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CompuPro System Support 1

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 5
Updated: [ SS-1 Card Repaired, Replaced -16V fuse ] 09/12/2010
My CompuPro System Support 1 card is on the fritz, but I am working to fix. The signal is being received from the terminal but I can't see the text on the screen, nothing is returned through the IO card. My first guess is that the 1488 or 1489 chips are bad. Swapping did not fix. I checked the voltage regulators. The 7912 in position U2 is not getting the expected voltage. I replaced the 7912 to no improvement. I think now maybe the tant cap in position C3 (or maybe C4) is bad. There are four such caps on the board C3, C4, C7, C8. The manual says that these tant caps are supposed to be 6.8uf 35v tant caps, but when I check the actual caps on the board they're all marked +1.5 25V Now I need to decide whether to trust the manual or use +1.5 25V instead because that's what's there, and it worked for apparently many years that way? ">... [ read more ]

TRS 80 Model III VR Data Disk III

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
TRS 80 Model III 26-1061 with a number of upgrades including a VR Data Disk III kit
This computer is not pretty, but it has a lot of interesting modifications. The Model 26-1061 is the first of the TRS 80 Model III's, and believe it or not these systems shipped with BASIC level 1. I am not sure if this system's ROMS have been upgraded but I am guessing yes. This system has the following upgrades: 1) VRdata Disk III (Tandon TM-100-1A SSSD drives, and what I believe is an external drive port 2) Internal speaker kit 3) Parallel printer kit 4) RS232 kit 5) I/O port ... [ read more ]

VCF MW 2010 - The SIG

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
My exhibit for the Vintage Computer Festival will be titled: The SIG The computer hobbyist special interest group, or "SIG", became prevelent in the later 1970's as the original homebrew computer clubs fragmented into smaller groups. These groups comprised of like-minded persons dedicated to a particular computer system or manufacturer, but there was often less of a focus on hardware or the computer engineering process that had dominated earlier groups. These SIGS sometimes broke off completely from their parent group to form their own independent clubs. Whether independent or part of a larger organization SIG's held monthly meetings, published articles, newsletters, and ran manufacturer-centric bulletin board systems. Product-centric groups served as an important communication tool, a software library, a knowledge base, and the source of innovation. Often these groups continue">... [ read more ]

August Workshop Photos

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Repair Workshop at the Wilmington Hackerspace. Matt (foreground) working on a PDP 11/05 to generate I/O using the console, and Alex (rear) working to attach a 3.5 disk drive to a Heathkit H89 computer. Click image for larger picture
Local Tandy expert Fred M. dropped off a huge lot of Tandy III and 4-era systems, drives, software, and docs. Some of these items are for sale. Can you find 9 Tandy computers in this picture? Click image for larger view.
... [ read more ]

Microcomputer Manufacturers 1979

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Allied Computers B-58 Ashok Nagar Madras 600 083 India Altos Computer Systems 2378 B Walsh Av Santa Clara CA 95050 Andromeda Systems 17875-N Sky Pk North Irvine CA 92714 APF Electronics Inc 444 Madison Av New York NY 10022 Apple Computer Co 12060 Bandley Dr Cupertino CA 95014 Atari Inc 1272 Borregas Av Sunnyvale CA 94086 Central Data POB 2484 Station A Champaign IL 61820 CGRS Microtech POB 368 Southampton PA 18966 CMC Marketing Corp 5601 Bintliff Suite 515 Houston TX 77036 Commodore Business Machines Inc 901 California Av Palo Alto CA 94304 Comptronics 19824 Ventura Blvd Woodland Hills CA 91364 Compucolor Corp POB 569 Norcross GA 30071 Computer Data Systems 5460 Fairmount Dr Wilmington DE 19808 Computer Power and Light 12321 Ventura Blvd Studio City CA 91604 Computer Products of America 633 W Katella Av Orange CA 92">... [ read more ]

Toshiba T3200SX

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
This is a Frankenstein Toshiba T3200SX, built from three separate systems. I still need to replace the internal battery, but it works great. I maxed out the RAM.
More Pics">... [ read more ]

A new S-100 Serial IO Board

by monahan_z
Total messages in this thread: 1
For people interested in building/repairing S-100 systems Andrew at N8VEM and I at S100Computers.com have just completed a prototype of a new S-100 Serial IO Board utilizing a Zilog Z85C30 UART. The board also has a V-Stamp voice synthesizer and DLP USB port controller and two parallel ports (8255). If you would like to read about this board please look here:- http://s100com...IO%20Board.htm There is a growing list of people getting interested in these S-100 systems. We get these bare boards produced in batches (typically $20-40, depending on demand). So if you would like to be kept in the loop as this board evolves you need to contact Andrew or me. ">... [ read more ]

The Last HOPE 2010 July 16-18 NYC

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
The Last HOPE - Hackers on Planet Earth convention
I arrived Friday night to check out a preview of Jason Scott's new video, "Get Lamp" which was shown at 11PM in the Tesla room that night. GET LAMP: http://www.getlamp.com/ Jason really has a talent for production and his interview format makes for a very effective documentary. "Get Lamp" is about text adventure games and the preview segment he chose to show was titled InfoCom. They're the company that made text adventures like Zork and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy among others. At noon on the 17th Evan K and I did a talk in front of about 500 people. The subject was the influence of the Mid-Atlantic region on the development of computer technology. Evan really has a gift for telling stories, he makes it look easy. We got a lot of goo">... [ read more ]

AT&T 7300 / 3b1 with a DOS co-proc

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 4
Updated: [ AT&T 3B1 Software ] 07/15/2010
Just got an AT& T 7300 / 3b1 with a DOS co-processor card. I have a new set of DOS-73 system diskettes AT&T UNIX PC Model 7300 ver 1.00, and a DOS-73 diagnostic. Matching manuals. Cleaned unit, does not power on. Fuse is OK.">... [ read more ]

A New S-100 PIC-RTC Board

by monahan_z
Total messages in this thread: 1
For people interested in building/repairing S-100 systems Andrew at N8VEM and I at 100Computers.com have just completed the construction and testing of an S-100 bus New Interrupt Controller and Real Time Clock Board. If you would like to read about this board please look here:- http://s100com...IC%20Board.htm There is a growing list of people getting interested in these S-100 systems. We get these bare boards produced in batches (typically $20-40, depending on demand). So if you would like to try this board you need to contact Andrew or I ASAP. It may be some time until the next batch. ">... [ read more ]

Vector Graphic ZCB

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 3
Updated: [ ZCB replacement ] 07/10/2010
The Vector Graphic ZCB is a S-100 single board computer. Not working at the moment. Here is an outline of the work done. 1. Set up a Northstar Horizon with standard cards, working drive, working CP/M disk, verified boot works, etc. 2. replaced N* CPU card with the VG ZCB. It actually worked once, but only once. The ZCB is supposed to send a dot prompt to the terminal. When one enters B, it looks for the northstar drive controller, and boots the disk. 3. set up a breakout box to the RS232, learned that the system was not sending a detectable CTS or DSR. These are the signals sent by the N1489 driver chip. The voltage is 10V, should be 12V. 4. There are two 1K ohm resistors in R22, R23 that are only measured to be .9K, so something is reducing the resistance. When I pulled these two, they returned to 1K, so the resistors themselves are OK. 5. Replaced the 148">... [ read more ]

Compaq DeskPro 386 25

by Krensmeyer
Total messages in this thread: 2
Updated: [ Compaq Deskpro 386/25 Video Card ] 07/10/2010
[thread moved] I am not a collector; but I am trying to preserve the one I own. It was my first real computer. I'm looking for someone who has a spare videocard for this machine or knows where I can find one... Thanks. Kirk">... [ read more ]

Time to replace motherboard batteries

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 2
Updated: [ Baking Soda and water for battery damage ] 11/29/2008

click image for larger version

Post from vintage-computer.com/ "...Anyone have experience cleaning up battery leakage, or should I just trash any system with battery problems? I dread the task of opening everything up that *could* have leaked, but I guess I have to do this asap. I have put aside a lot of 85-95 computers when I get them, they're not really in my area of interest, but at the same time I want to preserve them. I have 15 or so 386-486 systems, probably have 20+ bare motherboards from the e386-486 era, Amiga stuff, etc. All of this I have more or less ignored as "not vintage" - Maybe this is a mistake - whatever you call computers built before the WWW age and after 1985. Would a basic solution (vs. acidic) and a needle pick do the trick? I hav">... [ read more ]

DSD 880 Control Panel

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 4
Updated: [ U of Delaware VAX Photos ] 01/12/2013
Pictured is a control panel for a DSD 880 which is (?) a plug-compatible RX02/RL02 emulator for PDP8/PDP11 minicomputers. I think that the associated PDP 11 also ran a "FuzzBall" router controller designed by Professor Dave Mills of the University of Delaware. The Fuzzball was the router selected for use in launching the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) in 1985, the direct ancestor to the commercial Internet (WWW). Click on image for larger views.
In the early 1980's MILNET was spun-off of ARPANET. Soon afterwords the National Science Foundation launched the NSFNET service on the now non-classified ARPANET system, in 1984-85. NSFNET used the ARPANET TCP/IP standard. NSFNET went commercial in the ea">... [ read more ]

Sinclair Executive Calculator

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
The Sinclair Executive was the first pocket calculator produced in the UK. Click on image for larger view.
">... [ read more ]
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