February 2020 - vcf-midatlantic

Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Adam Michlin 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

Hi Everyone, VCF is working on a historical exhibit of CPUs (not really support chips at this point). Literally just the CPUs. What should we have at the bare minimum? 4004, 8008, 8088, 8086, 6502, Z80, 6800, 6809...? What should we have if we have more space? 80x86, 680x0, Sparc, MIPS, Power, Alpha, ARM, Itanium...? Modern CPUs (to some degree) aren't out of the question, either, as we're hoping to show the progression of Moore's Law from the 4004 (2,300 transistors) to present day maybe, for example, a AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (at 9,890,000,000 transistors). Thoughts? I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of important CPUs. -Adam

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Neil Cherry 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

Tony, you just reminded me ... A hugely important processor in the history of processors the 6501. It's really too bad you won't get one to display and if you do it needs to be guarded. 6800 ($300+ as I recall) -> 6501 (sued into oblivion by Motorola) -> 6502 (for less than $30). Remmeber $300 is was more than I made in a week in 1980 (35 hours). So jump that back to 1975, that's quite a bit of money for just the CPU. -- 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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The Print Shop for the C64 - known working copy?
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

Hello, I setup The Print Shop for the C64 in the museum with the original disk, but it locked after successful test print in the printer setup part. I tried two cracked versions, but they didn't have the setup part in the menu or didn't work. Does someone have a known working copy? Can you send it as a .d64? I will be at the System Source repair workshop this weekend if that helps deliver a real floppy disk. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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CRT Repair (OT Modern $$)
by Bill Degnan 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

Hi - I have a Dream Authentics arcade with a faulty CRT. It was purchased new about 12 years ago. Click .. click .. click then nothing. The inbound signal from the computer is ok, problem is with the CRT. If you're in the Philadelphia area (Kennett Square is 30 mins south) let me know. Will pay fair wage for on-site repair. The CRT itself is open in the back once you remove the arcade back cover. Contact me off list through vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm Thanks Bill

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Fortran Board Game
by Herb Johnson 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

Adam, I'll risk my ignorance of this particular 1970's board game, to speak up. Without going on about the history of board games; There were any number of "computer" card-game or board-game products in the 1970's and 80's, also earlier - why is this one any better than any other? Why is this worth $300? I'm not a game-collector, and I certainly don't take an eBay description at face value. But I know FORTRAN, and I don't see much "FORTRAN" about this game, from the eBay auction photos. I dont' want to give Adam a hard time, if he was simply excited to see such a thing and was sharing his excitement. But I'm left confused by statement like "we really need this... this is a real thing". Does the VCFed Museum now solicit board-games about computers? If so the local thrift stores will produce them; please provide some guidance if you want donations. Do not pass GO, do not pay $300. Regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

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Oh noes, wikipedia might be wrong :-0
by Jeffrey Jonas 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

I was looking up the "first" 32 bit CPU chip. Ummm, 1980 is before 1982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_FOCUS The Hewlett-Packard FOCUS microprocessor, launched in 1982, was the first commercial, single chip, fully 32-bit microprocessor available on the market. [I guess "fully 32 bit" is the key phrase: 32 bit external interface?] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000 The original MC68000 was fabricated using an HMOS process with a 3.5 um feature size. Formally introduced in September 1979, initial samples were released in February 1980, with production chips available over the counter in November. Once again, "Who Was First" is a vague and dangerous question. I'd love to see a "Who's On First" variation about "first" computers, with ENIAC on first :-) I agree with defining a focus for the CPU exhibit. Certainly the 8 bit processors are a natural grouping. Or just the processors of the 70s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor_chronology

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Jeffrey Jonas 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

My animated reply to Chris Liendo: > Sun Microsystems SPARC Processor > Using an unproven new architecture, this processor put Sun Microsystems on the map I believe the HP Spectrum RISC chip came first: Citing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PA-RISC The architecture was introduced on 26 February 1986, when the HP 3000 Series 930 and HP 9000 Model 840 computers were launched featuring the first implementation, the TS1 > Microchip Technology PIC 16C84 Microcontroller > Adding easily reprogrammable onboard memory > to store software revolutionized microcontrollers I worked at General Instruments' Hicksville facility around 1982. Here are some mementos http://ferretronix.com/tech/chips/index.html such as info about the first PIC chips http://ferretronix.com/tech/chips/gi_product_guide_1982_3.jpg They were VERY EXPENSIVE to use, requiring a cross assembler and development tools, programmer, emulator for debugging, etc. They were ROM only. The UV-EPROM ones came later. I'd say the flash/eeprom ones REALLY made things hobbyist friendly. No more pulling the chip to UV erase it, program it using a dedicated programmer, inserting it into the circuit only to find a program debug and repeat the entire cycle. Wikipiedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontrollers links to https://www.eetimes.com/microchip-offering-flash-at-otp-prices/# Microchip offering flash at OTP prices By Darrell Dunn 08.31.2001 Having established itself as a major supplier in the microcontroller market over the past decade by pioneering the use of one-time-programmable (OTP) devices, Microchip Technology Inc. today hopes to usher in a new era with devices based on a new process technology the company believes will provide the advantages of flash memory at OTP prices. "We're trying to move flash into mainstream applications," said Greg Robinson, product marketing manager at Microchip in Chandler, Ariz. "We changed the entire paradigm of the 8-bit market with OTPs and now with our new cell we can bring flash into consumer types of applications as we eliminate the traditional flash disadvantages of cost and programming time."

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Fortran Board Game
by Adam Michlin 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

This is not a joke. We need this for the musuem: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEALED-Fortran-Computer-Board-Game-VTG-1973-Orda-P… Well, OK, not really need... but still... And, yes, it is a real thing. -Adam

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Vic-20 Switch
by corey cohen 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

So does anyone have a part number for a correct replacement switch. If they go bad, maybe we need to buy a few for the museum’s Vic-20’s that work. corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 10, 2020, at 12:31 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > <mime-attachment>

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Blinken lights for the Pidp8 ?
by Neil Cherry 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

I finally found the missing chip for my PIDP8 (I thought it was a ULN chip, it's not). And I've be successful at running advent on it (yea). I recall someone mentioning that there was one program that was a program that would basically exercise the display while it was running. Does anyone recall which program that might be? I won't have time to dig into the PIDP8 and actually learn to properly load from the display. At least not for a few more months. Thanks -- 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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