Latest Projects:
Qume QVT-108 |
Zorba GC-200 Portableby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 3 Updated: [ Zorba Repairs ] 07/20/2011 I have received a non-functional Zorba portable model GC-200. It's in nice cosmetic shape, but does not complete a boot cycle, no screen output, no attempt to access diskette. The portables of this era all seem to have similar problems.  The portable with the quirky name - Zorba - was one of the last great CRT portables. This portable had dual 5 1/4" drives and ran a CP/M. It had non standard looking 25 pin female serial, parallel and IEEE  Modular Micros, Inc. sold the Zorba, but I am not sure if this was an exclusive deal or just a de">... [ read more ]
|
Shugart SA801 Inventoryby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 Shugart 801 inventory 5 Shugart 801's, none have yet been proven to work. Enclosures: Lobo twin 8" drive enclosure. Xerox twin 8" drive enclosure SN: x973 013718 New Old Stock drive in box. M35982 3/15/1982 NOTES 1. Removed boot drive from Lobo enclosure and replaced with the new old stock drive. made jumper changes to match original drive 2. Xerox drives not used #1 #2 ">... [ read more ] |
Vintage Computer Festival Video 2008by billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 Demo of Space War on the PDP 8i captured on video, with ASR 33 and Calcomp Plotter: http://www.y...=JxVMtGFcc_s Towards the end there are a few snips of my exhibit from the festival as well. Here is a Youtube.com video of my Commodore SuperPet and D9090 from Dan Roganti: http://www.y...Mw0UEHoxU ...another one from Dan of the ENIAC development lecture http://www.yo...com/watch?v=TlZP3KeLRpw">... [ read more ] |
Timex Sinclair 1000 / ZX81by billdeg Total messages in this thread: 3 Updated: [ Looking for Sinclair Keyboard ] 08/23/2009 Here are some photos of some recently purchased Timex Sinclair 1000 / ZX81 items. There are 6 boxes of books and hardware, plus about 150 tape programs to catalog. Assembly programming for the Sinclair I can believe..Forth? I had no idea how seriously people took these machines. more to follow. I will probably put some of this up for sale, if anyone is interested, let me know. My favorite item is the Suntronics Sinclair keyboard kit. Makes the system so much more usable with a good keyboard. ">... [ read more ] |
Geniac Adby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 Astounding SCIENCE FICTION page 1 Advertisement:  This is an ad for the 1958 model of the Geniac computer kit. PDF ">... [ read more ]
|
MARCH's 2 PDP 11/05 computersby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 On my way home from MARCH's computer museum I took home two 11/05's for inspection. More on this later, but I was able to get one of them to read and write memory from the front panel, the other I was also able to get funcitonal aside from a stuck 7th bit in the 4K Core memory card. UPDATE: THe system with the bad core does not respond to any front panel input, the "working" system today would not power off when switching the key to the off position.">... [ read more ] |
SWTPc TV Typewriter IIby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 2 Updated: [ TV Typewriter II Restoration Update ] 08/08/2009 The original TV Typewriter on display in the MARCH museum was donated by Bill Dudley. I don't have any pictures at the moment. Bill showed up on Wednesday and we took the thing apart to see if it could be made functional again. Here are some project notes for future reference, I will come back to this post asap. 1. The keyboard attached to the unit is a George Risk. See same keyboard model I have the tech doc for the keyboard, but this was not necessary, all of the voltages checked out OK. The keyboard voltages and connections are good. We checked the repeat key mod Bill had made. We monitored the voltage coming into the TV Typerwriter from the keyboard. Each time a key was pressed, the voltage jumped 15 millivolts (from 80 to 95). We did not go so far as to verify that when you press an "a" you get an "a" sent by the ke">... [ read more ] |
IBM PC Convertible 5140 Laptopby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 3 Updated: [ 5140 Guide to Operations? ] 07/10/2009  What make these IBM laptops tick, anyway? Recently I have been learning more about what you can and can't do with an IBM 5140 laptop. It's a non-PS/2 from 1986 that was popular until the PS/2 laptops started appearing a few years later. Surprisingly, a lot of the units I have come across still have working batteries! I need more power supplies. Pictures of 5140's">... [ read more ] |
Commodore P500 (aka C128-40)by billdeg Total messages in this thread: 2 Updated: [ CBM P500 PAL to NTSC Conversion ] 07/11/2009 The Commodore P-500 was the first to have a SID chip installed.  The boot screen from a PAL Commodore P500 using an NTSC monitor.
I have to use a step up/step down transformer because this is a 220 / PAL system. After carefully testing the AC input and DC power output I determined that the power supply was correctly sending 12V, -12V, 2.5V, and 5V.
There is a TIP29 transistor that seemed to be sending the correct voltages, based on the data sheet.
I swapped the English PAL VIC-II chip with a VIC-II from a C-64.
The black and white screen above is exactly what you'd expect to see coming from an NTSC monitor when receiving the PAL refresh rate.
More Pictures
I found this set of instructions on
http://landover.no-i...pet/forum/index.php?top">... [ read more ]
|
Commodore Models - 10 have SID chipsby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 The following 10 American Commodore computers models with at least one unit sold in stores and also had SID chips are:  The Commodore P500, also known as the C128-40 was the first Commodore model with a SID chip.
P500
C64
SX64
C64C
C128
C128D
B500
CBM 128-80
CBM 256-80
B128
Honorable Mention, but not sold in stores:
C64 LCD
">... [ read more ]
|
A donation storyby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 3 Updated: [ Archiving Wafers to WAV ] 07/02/2009 As you may or may not know last year my VCF exhibit was supposed to be on the Exatron Stringy Floppy. A month before the show all my drive's belts snapped, and I had to switch my exhibit to a different subject. And that's why I did the TRS 80 Model 1 30th anniversary exhibit. Not my first choice, but that's the way it goes. hoo haa. Since then I found a company to engineer replacement belts. It took 4 belt size/width attempts to finally get it right. Great, 6 months late but I finally had a working drive. I given the parts and such I accumulated I was able to assemble 3 working drives and I was able to use the belt for another related project that uses the same motor/belt. It pays to stick with things. "A donation story" Around lunchtime Friday I was working down stairs at my office in Wilmington, on the IBM Series 1 friends helped me move around Christmas time. The">... [ read more ] |
Panasonic Senior Partnerby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 The Panasonic Senior Partner is an attractive IBM clone portable with a built-in printer.  The Panasonic Senior Partner running DOS 2.1
I built a boot disk to be stored with it, and I guess it was a DOS 2.1 machine but I don't have the manuals and such.
More pictures">... [ read more ]
|
The lost NASA tapesby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 1 This is an article that illustrates the importance of preserving the skills needed to preserve ancient data from being lost. From Computerworld online: The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault A Mac Pro and 40-year-old tape drives are helping restore the original Lunar Orbiter tapes http://www.comp...12&pageNumber=1 Here are some pictures from an actual Apollo lander computer, courtesy Frank O'Brien from VCF East 3 2006. Apollo Guidence Modules Apollo Guidence Module Closeup 1 Apollo Guidence Module Closeup 2">... [ read more ] |
Bubble on a 16v 3300 ufby billdeg Total messages in this thread: 3 Updated: [ Altair 8800 power supply capacitors ] 06/30/2009 has been restoring an Altair 8800 S/N 220744K. By participating in the restoration process I have learned a whole lot and I am starting to apply this knowledge to this and other projects. For starters, I am going to test every electrical component and compare with another 8800, same model. I want to try to get them both running by comparing and contrasting how they work. This is a good approach for the amateur, if you can find another working system and you know how to use a voltmeter and soldering iron. Anyway, As I was testing the caps in the back by the power supply I found that one of the caps is about to go:  Image of Altair 8800 16V 3300 uf capacitor with a bubble forming on the plus side. It's the o">... [ read more ]
|
|
OLDER POSTS (15 threads per page):
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
44 |
45 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 |
51 |
52 |
53 |
54 |
55 |
|
Resources:
Popular Topics and FAQs
Past Issues:
ATT 6300
This image was selected at random from the archive. Click image for more photos and files from this set.
Total messages in this thread: 1