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More moving this Saturday
by Evan Koblentz 04 Feb '16

04 Feb '16

I need one or two hard-working helpers for this Saturday. Tony will be there in the afternoon to help us transport stuff from the old museum to the new one using his cargo van. Jeff B. will be very glad and amazed to know that I have a real plan for how to move stuff. :)

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FS: Tanner/Digital Research 64K Static RAM for S-100 Bus Tested/Working
by Herb Johnson 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

[previously posted with a broken subject line; posted again to keep in the "thread". - Herb] Your eBay description and discussion here, refer to the S-100 card as "a Digital Research product". Digital Research Computers/Corporation or DRC of Texas was a small manufacturer of S-100 cards and systems. They are NOT associated with Digital Research Inc or DRI of California, founded by Dr. Gary Kildall, creator of CP/M. I recall "DRC of Texas" ads in a number of period magazines. I don't know about the Tanner/DRC association. My recollection is that the cards are at the least similar. Jonathan, are they identical? If so, it may simply be a copy. Such things happened in the era without a business sale/purchase, but let me know of any further info, if you please. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/d_drc.html That's a new Web page as of today; previously I listed my DRC manuals elsewhere. The new page lists the DRC products I have manuals for; and has the statement above. > The manual states the board is IEEE-696 compatible; however, > that just means it follows IEEE-696 signal designations -- > it is not 16-bit compatible. IEEE-696 allowed for 8-bit data operations and 16-bit addressing, it's also part of the standard, cards are designated accordingly by their data and address "paths". I don't discuss details on my Web site, but the IEEE 696 standard document can be found on some parts of the Web; and as part of various Compupro documents, published articles, etc. I discuss the S-100 / IEEE-696 bus signals at: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s100bus.html However, the IEEE has enforced their copyright and asked Web sites to remove copies of their IEEE-696 documents. They sell copies of their standards (not cheap) on their Web site. Herb Johnson former "Dr. S-100" -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Neat donation from Martin F.
by Evan Koblentz 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

Everyone, Here's a nice donation from Martin (of our neighbor organization OMARC): "I have a dozen Western Electric and ITT 1A2 model 2565 (1972 vintage) phones. The batch I have came out of the IBM Corporate Campus on Castle Drive in Armonk, NY. Many still have dial cards depicting (914) 765-xxxx numbers." These will pair nicely with many of the exhibits in our new museum space.

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FS: Tanner/Digital Research 64K Static RAM for S-100 Bus Tested/Workin
by Herb Johnson 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

Your eBay description and discussion here, refer to the S-100 card as "a Digital Research product". Digital Research Computers/Corporation or DRC of Texas was a small manufacturer of S-100 cards and systems. They are NOT associated with Digital Research Inc or DRI of California, founded by Dr. Gary Kildall, creator of CP/M. I recall "DRC of Texas" ads in a number of period magazines. I don't know about the Tanner/DRC association. My recollection is that the cards are at the least similar. Jonathan, are they identical? If so, it may simply be a copy. Such things happened in the era without a business sale/purchase, but let me know of any further info, if you please. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/d_drc.html That's a new Web page as of today; previously I listed my DRC manuals elsewhere. The new page lists the DRC products I have manuals for; and has the statement above. > The manual states the board is IEEE-696 compatible; however, > that just means it follows IEEE-696 signal designations -- > it is not 16-bit compatible. IEEE-696 allowed for 8-bit data operations and 16-bit addressing, it's also part of the standard, cards are designated accordingly by their data and address "paths". I don't discuss details on my Web site, but the IEEE 696 standard document can be found on some parts of the Web; and as part of various Compupro documents, published articles, etc. I discuss the S-100 / IEEE-696 bus signals at: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s100bus.html However, the IEEE has enforced their copyright and asked Web sites to remove copies of their IEEE-696 documents. They sell copies of their standards (not cheap) on their Web site. Herb Johnson former "Dr. S-100" -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Craig Solomon is selling off some items.
by Christian Liendo 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyB2d8m_MeY&feature=em-subs_digest

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KansasFest registration opens (Apple II convention)
by Andrew Molloy 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

We just opened KansasFest registration (featuring a keynote this year by Nibble magazine editor Mike Harvey). Here's a link to the release: https://www.kansasfest.org/2016/02/registration-2016-open/ It's a fun week of hanging out with other Apple II aficionados. Kind of like a longer version of VCF East. , Andy ================================ KansasFest 2016 opens for registration KansasFest 2016, the 28th annual Apple II convention, is now open for registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, from Tuesday, July 19, through Sunday, July 24, for six days and five nights of sessions, demos, announcements, contests, and camaraderie. Mike Harvey, a business executive, salesperson, technologist, project manager, entrepreneur, programmer, and best known in the Apple community as the founder and publisher of Nibble magazine, will join us with a keynote presentation. Harvey will be available immediately afterward for a Q&A and autograph session. Attendees are encouraged to share their knowledge by presenting their own hardware and software sessions related to the Apple II. All KansasFest sessions are presented by the attendees, who are known for unscheduled events and debuts, too. Whether it's a behind-the-scenes look at new software, preorder opportunities for new hardware, a hands-on workshop, a podcast recording session, Structris tournaments, or an athletic round of Bite the Bag, there are experiences to be had and memories to be made at KansasFest that aren't possible except in the company of surprising, brilliant, diehard Apple II fans. Register by May 31 to guarantee a price of $385 for a double room or $455 for a single, which includes admission to all sessions as well as most meals. After that, prices rise $55. Official KansasFest shirts are extra and optional and must be ordered by June 22; registration for staying on-site closes July 1. To register, please visit the official registration form. KansasFest invites any and all Apple II users, fans, and friends to attend the longest running annual Apple II conference. KansasFest is working towards non-profit status, which will help keep the conference alive for many more years. For photos, videos, schedules, and presentations from past year's events or to sign up for the email list and for inquiries, please browse our website at http://www.kansasfest.org.

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Workshop Jan. 30/31 Report
by Herb Johnson 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

I assembled a PDP 8/A from boards and chassis, and except for my core memory boards it operated successfully. I tested on David Gesswein's working 8/A the following: my 8/A board set, my core memory boards, and my programmer's panel. Then I assembled the best of these on my 8/A chassis, and ran tests with some success. However I had to use David's 8K core and not mine. My thanks and great appreciation to David Gesswein, who provided total use of his 8/A, and patiently gave me instruction and answered questions, as he worked on another slightly more challenging PDP-8. I'm working up my notes onto my Web site. Here's the Web pages in progress. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/8a_fix_jan16.html is my work on my 8/A and brief notes and photos of David's straight-8 work. There's links on that page, to previous work I did on various parts of the 8/A which I assembled last weekend. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/vcf_fixit_jan16.html is a very rough Web page on the VCFed repair event itself. No photos up yet, I'll work on it. Photos are available from me for use, for any of the attendees. I enjoyed the weekend. It was good to see my VC friends again, and see some of their work. It was interesting to see all the Commodore 64 attention, and the Pumapunku pile of 1641 drives in various states of repair during the course of the weekend. Bill Degnan had some interesting discussion at Saturday dinner. Thanks to Jeff Galinat for use of his soldering iron, and I admired his S-100 setup. Thanks to Jeff Brace for his management of the event, Evan for various food runs and for accommodations. And my regards to all my colleagues who attended. Herb Johnson, retrotechnology.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapunku -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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FS: Tanner/Digital Research 64K Static RAM for S-100 Bus Tested/Working
by Systems Glitch 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272123001750 These are, in my opinion, exactly the kind of boards you want for old 8-bit S-100 boxes. Fully static, you can swap 2716 EPROMs in if you need to, and very low power draw. Pretty much the only kind of RAM board you can use if you want a full 64K (or close to it) in an original Altair with the original low-wattage power supply. This one has sockets for the last four RAM chips. The last two are not populated, as it came from a heavily modified Altair 8800 with a Turnkey card -- RAM from 0xF000 - 0xFFFF was disabled to allow the Turnkey card to co-exist. I can provide two 6116 static RAMs if desired. One tantalum capacitor was shorted, so I went ahead and replaced all four. I also populated the board activity LED. Fully tested on my IMSAI 8080, including phantom. You'll find the manual listed under Digital Research (not sure if they bought Tanner, or what). The manual states the board is IEEE-696 compatible; however, that just means it follows IEEE-696 signal designations -- it is not 16-bit compatible. Thanks, Jonathan

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Seven exhibits already for VCF East XI
by Evan Koblentz 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

Here are the registered exhibits so far: http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/festivals/vintage-computer-festiva… .... as I said last year, register early or risk not getting space....

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FS: MITS 88-2 SIO Tested/Working
by Systems Glitch 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272122857393 Here's the MITS serial interface everyone wants, and this one is fully tested and working! I had to replace the baud rate generator (DOA, replaced with a milspec Harris DI-4702-9) and a 1488. Previous owner had lifted two pads in the baud rate jumper area. I installed wire wrap pins so that a) pads won't get lifted when you need to change baud rates and b) you can jumper both ports to the same baud rate. Includes two nice ceramic Motorola 6850 ACIAs, original to the board. Currently jumpered for standard MITS port addressing (0x10 or 020 octal), RS-232 serial, and 9600/2400 bps. Thanks, Jonathan

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