Hi folks, new to the list here. Evan suggested I send an intro email so here it is. Got involved with computing around 1979, 1980 at about 12 or 13 years old. I had access to a TRS-80 Model I (level 2) through a friend of my fathers. I read every issue of byte and popular electronics that I could get my hands on those days. I never could afford an S100 machine. Eventually I bought a TRS-80 Model III (or IV I can't remember) with some money I had saved. That was the machine I learned on for several years. I am just starting to get back into this stuff and wanting to get the machines I could never afford as a kid, I have acquired an IMSAI 8080 and a PDP-8e. One of these days I hope to find some time to get them running. Here are some pix. http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/IMSAI-8080/ http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/PDP-8e/ You might be able to tell by my domain name, my main hobby is amateur radio. Specifically, I enjoy collecting, repairing and operating older (tube) ham and military (army and navy) radios. I also have a "thing" for test equipment and precision frequency stuff. In addition to some GPSDO's I have a working cesium beam atomic clock. Just neat to tell people. I had been interested in getting some 8" drives to pair with my IMSAI just for the nostalgia of it all. While at the Dayton Hamvention this past year I saw a big blue enclosure containing three 8" disk drives and I had to go look. The guy said I could have them for $50 as long as I also took this other matching blue box. Well it ends up this was a Vector Graphics enclosure/backplane with the matching triple 8" drives. I really didn't want the backplane/enclosure since there were no boards and I really didn't have the room for all of this. But the price was right so I grabbed it all. Card cage looks unused. Here are some (poor) pictures. http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/Vector/ I am not really sure what to do with this stuff. I really don't want the card cage/enclosure. I would hate to separate them, but I might be convinced. I like the blue color that kinda matches my IMSAI. But I don't even know if my IMSAI could be made to work with the triple 8" drives. And quite frankly, the triple drives are very large because they are oriented vertically instead of what is often seen, two horizontally. Anyway, I was really hoping I could come down to InfoAge this weekend and seek out some help with my projects, but there is a military vehicle/radio show that happens every year at the fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA so I won't be able to meet and greet quite yet. In all, I have absolutely everything to learn about these machines to try to get them running. Electrically I am pretty handy. But when it comes to roms, bios's and getting things to boot and configured will be a challenge. I even have an 8 bit tape punch/reader from a CNC machine that I would love to use to bootstrap these machines. Well that about wraps it up. Glad to join the group. Now if I could only find some time to enjoy this hobby! Eugene PS. In case the radio stuff interests you, some photos of the shack and lab. http://w2hx.com/x/New%20Shack/
Adding OT tag - Eugene, Since you can't make the workshop, You might want to consider stopping by IA on the 25th (the following weekend) * The VCF space is excellent - needs to be seen! * The OMARC hamfest is in the morning - We will doing EME with the TLM-18 (the 60 foot dish antenna on the DIANA site) * The Robotics Team is doing a presentation: The FIRST Lessons - Real World Skills from Competitive Robotics in the afternoon. * The Radio Technology Museum has a handful of Harris and green radios. * The Military Technology Museum has a smattering of comm stuff, including a few field comm trailers not yet on display. BTW, Army / NTIA likes the place so much, that they made members of the OMARC team custodians of both the K2USA and AAV call signs. (the former Fort Monmouth Call signs). 73 Martin W2RWJ On 9/13/2016 11:31 PM, W2HX via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hi folks, new to the list here. Evan suggested I send an intro email so here it is.
Got involved with computing around 1979, 1980 at about 12 or 13 years old. I had access to a TRS-80 Model I (level 2) through a friend of my fathers. I read every issue of byte and popular electronics that I could get my hands on those days. I never could afford an S100 machine. Eventually I bought a TRS-80 Model III (or IV I can't remember) with some money I had saved. That was the machine I learned on for several years.
I am just starting to get back into this stuff and wanting to get the machines I could never afford as a kid, I have acquired an IMSAI 8080 and a PDP-8e. One of these days I hope to find some time to get them running. Here are some pix.
http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/IMSAI-8080/ http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/PDP-8e/
You might be able to tell by my domain name, my main hobby is amateur radio. Specifically, I enjoy collecting, repairing and operating older (tube) ham and military (army and navy) radios. I also have a "thing" for test equipment and precision frequency stuff. In addition to some GPSDO's I have a working cesium beam atomic clock. Just neat to tell people.
I had been interested in getting some 8" drives to pair with my IMSAI just for the nostalgia of it all. While at the Dayton Hamvention this past year I saw a big blue enclosure containing three 8" disk drives and I had to go look. The guy said I could have them for $50 as long as I also took this other matching blue box. Well it ends up this was a Vector Graphics enclosure/backplane with the matching triple 8" drives. I really didn't want the backplane/enclosure since there were no boards and I really didn't have the room for all of this. But the price was right so I grabbed it all. Card cage looks unused. Here are some (poor) pictures.
http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/Vector/
I am not really sure what to do with this stuff. I really don't want the card cage/enclosure. I would hate to separate them, but I might be convinced. I like the blue color that kinda matches my IMSAI. But I don't even know if my IMSAI could be made to work with the triple 8" drives. And quite frankly, the triple drives are very large because they are oriented vertically instead of what is often seen, two horizontally.
Anyway, I was really hoping I could come down to InfoAge this weekend and seek out some help with my projects, but there is a military vehicle/radio show that happens every year at the fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA so I won't be able to meet and greet quite yet.
In all, I have absolutely everything to learn about these machines to try to get them running. Electrically I am pretty handy. But when it comes to roms, bios's and getting things to boot and configured will be a challenge. I even have an 8 bit tape punch/reader from a CNC machine that I would love to use to bootstrap these machines.
Well that about wraps it up. Glad to join the group. Now if I could only find some time to enjoy this hobby!
Eugene PS. In case the radio stuff interests you, some photos of the shack and lab. http://w2hx.com/x/New%20Shack/
Welcome! A bunch of us hack on S-100 stuff, so feel free to ask if you're in search of boards or help.
Here are some (poor) pictures.
Cool enclosure! I'm guessing this was some sort of OEM system. From the enclosures I wouldn't be surprised if it was for some sort of industrial application.
I really don't want the card cage/enclosure. I would hate to separate them, but I might be convinced.
I wouldn't feel too bad about separating them, you ended up with an empty card cage so building up a system with it would be non-original anyway. Just don't scrap the card cage or something!
Anyway, I was really hoping I could come down to InfoAge this weekend and seek out some help with my projects, but there is a military vehicle/radio show that happens every year at the fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA so I won't be able to meet and greet quite yet.
A few of us are also interested in MVs -- I've got a 1948 M38 basket case and a 1952 M38A1 runner back on the family farm. Had a M49 (M35 platform airfield fuel truck) someone cut the tank off of, old REO 331 gas powered truck, but it was a rolling wreck. It exploded its clutch on the way home, on a downgrade, so we ended up parting it out. Still have the REO 331 "Gold Comet" if you know anyone who needs it! Thanks, Jonathan
Eugene, I have a Beige side by side dual 8" drive cabinet. It looks similar to the Imsai drive cabinet. If your interested let me know, we can work out a deal. :) Tom
participants (4)
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Martin A Flynn -
Systems Glitch -
Tom Hornberger -
W2HX