September 2016 - vcf-midatlantic

Atari & ATR8000
by Neil Cherry 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

I have an unusual bit of kit. I have an ATR8000 which is a device that was attached to the SIO port of an Atari 8 bit computer and gave it access to CP/M. I'd like to resurrect this setup (working on the Atari 800XL now) but I may need some help. What I appear to have is the ATR8000, CP/M floppy diskettes (5 1/4) and a manual. I haven't found my Atari Drives but I hope to have my Raspberry Pi (SIO2PC) working soon. I may need to beg, borrow or steal an Atari drive and a normal 5 1/4" drive tha can handle 1024 sector CP/M disks. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

Jeff B. and I spent several hours at the museum today. Had a few visitors and acquired a nice-looking Mac Classic. Mostly we cleaned the workshop, reorganized a few things, fixed some exhibit displays, and did some prep for Maker Faire next weekend. Jeff will be there again to give tours tomorrow.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Funny little story
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Got a phone call tonight from a 90-year-old who said (with full >sincerity), "I started on a computer called the Apple II. You probably >never heard of it." At that age, I would have expected to hear the Babbage Engine II. :)

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Funny little story
by Evan Koblentz 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

Got a phone call tonight from a 90-year-old who said (with full sincerity), "I started on a computer called the Apple II. You probably never heard of it."

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my VCF midwest wrapup
by Jeffrey Jonas 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

"There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet" --- W.B. Yeats "A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet." -- Will Rogers I just returned from my first VCF Midwest. It was totally awesome. A most glorious, drama-free weekend of vintage computers, reproductions, simulators and emulators but mostly all the great folks who create and appreciate them. I owe a zillion thanks to Connor for making it possible for me to attend. I was surprised at how many folks I already knew (either from VCF east, or online) and all the new friends I made so easily and comfortably. The dinners were great for schmoozing - the pizza place with the amazing pizza sliced into small squares, perfect for sharing. - the salad bar, with discount coupons thanks to Eric - the "dead dog party" afterwards The "free table" was like the dumpster diving after TCF (Trenton Computer Fest) but it was all weekend. I am enjoying items such as - empty chip rails - 5V and 12V power cubes - more home router/switches I had to pay for some items (GASP!) - a pretty silver Kensington trackball (dealer's den) - laser barcode scanner and more Palm PDAs from the auction The most bizarre item I got: a large heavy single axis gyro at the auction. My only laments are - missing the free rail of MAX232 chips - not attending sooner! -- jeff jonas

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OT: Modern-ish laptop F/S
by Evan Koblentz 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Looking to turn my old Dell Latitude E6510 into cash. It's a Dell Latitude e6510, Intel Core i5, 2.67GHz, 4GB RAM (upgradeable to 8), 500GB HDD (not SSD). I installed Mint 18. Any reasonable offer accepted. Can ship or meet up in person.

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8-bit ISA slot Single Board Computer
by Herb Johnson 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Joseph Oprysko posted: > Is anyone here aware of such a beast? I have a Heathkit/Zenith Z-150 > system. It's motherboard is literally just an 8-Bit ISA backplane, the > computer occupies 4 of the ISA slots. I have Z-150 and related documentation. Zenith/Heath produced a number of models of ISA computers which used passive backplanes and several ISA boards to complete the PC-nearly-compatible computer. Other Zenith products used IBM-type motherboards with most of the PC functions on that board. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/zenith_mans.html#z148 > I'm curious if there exists a Single Board Computer that would work in the > 8-bit slots. > > What I would actually like to try is to have multiple SBC's on the ISA bus, > and have them communicate with each other. There may be single-board PC's which fit a single 8-bit ISA slot. But many were 16-bit ISA, the longer slot. And the PC-104 stackable bus standard, is essentially the ISA bus on a different connector. YOu can look up PC-104 if that's not familiar. Running multiple ISA-bus "masters" on one ISA bus, may be a problem. Briefly: they each expect to drive the bus as a single master. There may be products that can share the bus with each other. (shrug) you'll have to do some homework to become familiar with such things; and then of course find now-vintage products which will share the bus; and of course determine how to set them up, boot up sequences, who is in charge when, and so on. Likely more common, are slave CPU boards, where a task or a user gets a CPU on a board with memory and I/O; but uses the bus to share resources like hard drives. this was common in S-100 TurboDOS systems. Some of the S-100 "IEEE-696" CPU boards, can release the bus to another CPU or DMA bus-master; some of those boards are fairly functional "computers". Multibus did this too. But I'm guessing the idea, is to use IBM-PC ISA-class products, to check out multiple bus-masters and multiple CPU's, in a vintage way. a modified ISA backplane, may be such a way. A custom backplane may be able to adapt ISA "no share" bus masters to access common ISA bus devices. But you might look at PC-104; they are smaller cards, more integrated and so with more features; and they may have a multi-master standard as part of PC-104. And of course, they are vintage now. ;) Herb JOhnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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8-bit ISA slot Single Board Computer
by Joseph Oprysko 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Is anyone here aware of such a beast? I have a Heathkit/Zenith Z-150 system. It's motherboard is literally just an 8-Bit ISA backplane, the computer occupies 4 of the ISA slots. I'm curious if there exists a Single Board Computer that would work in the 8-bit slots. What I would actually like to try is to have multiple SBC's on the ISA bus, and have them communicate with each other. If anyone knows if such a board exists, I'd appreciate the help. Joe -- 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?

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Looking for a dead Vectrex, the deader the better
by Corey Cohen 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

I have a Vectrex with a case cracked bad enough that it's not fixable. The unit works great. I have two options. One convert to a desktop arcade it using a custom wood case or find a cheap dead Vectrex. I prefer the second option. Anyone have a dead Vectrex they'd be willing to sell at a reasonable price? Don't need controllers. Thanks, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ

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Workshop -- Univac Status / Progress
by Bill Dromgoole 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

The 1532 is well on its way to being an I/O console again. Installed new capstan for the reader and have the paper tape punch almost fully working. The main problem is the punched index holes have hanging chads. I changed the paper tape roll between tests because the tape kept breaking between the reel and the first roller. I change the half twist in the tape to the other direction and think that is what actually stopped the tape from breaking. Not 100% sure. https://goo.gl/photos/ng88qoiRgDuPoaXEA https://goo.gl/photos/NWNZb65ZQub9rXv49 The tape being used in the video was punched by copying another piece of tape we had at the museum. The text printed on the teletype looks like Z80 assembly code. In this video the Univac 1532 input / output console is reading a paper tape while simultaneously copying the contents to the teletype and punching another paper tape. https://goo.gl/photos/AH5sZcEkqMUzWAWFA . Tried to open 1219 power supply drawer for inspection but could not. Look like the bottom of drawer is being squeezed by the pallet. I think I convinced Evan we need to make a custom pallet that extends two feet or so in front of computer using 3/4" plywood and 4"x 4" rails. He seemed excited about the possibility to move the Univac items closer together with custom pallets. We will also bolt the computer to the pallet to prevent tipping over when opening the upper drawers. Also installed new 1219 nameplate grill and air filter. Still needs small grill but the computer in the warehouse has one. Looked for desk for teletype mounting but the one we need is smaller than normal and only has drawers on the left side. Keeping an eye out for one. We are currently working on building an RS-232 interface to the NTDS slow interface (Mil-Std 1397) so we can fully test the 1532 console from its I/O connectors. We could possibly use it for some testing with the Univac 1219 also after it is powered up. We spoke to the electrician and made plans for a 220 volt power jack near the 1219 and 1532 . There is room there also for our three phase 400 Hz motor/generator set. We completed all the cable assemblies needed to power the 1219 computer including a local on/off switch and current monitoring capabilities. The 400 Hz generator was load tested at one of our previous workshops and seems to be fully operational. Hopefully we will apply power to the computer at one of the workshops this winter. Bill Dromgoole

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