Posts by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
(DIR) Post #9fR7DjqDAgzvkQMSq8 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-02T21:06:44.140630Z
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@penguin42 So it has on-board stuff for plotting from the typewriter UI (you can see the graph icons above the top row), but it also has a Centronics port for hooking it up to a computer for more serious plotting.
(DIR) Post #9fR7oKIJ7J4tEKwvVg by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-02T21:13:20.600044Z
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@penguin42 Keep in mind that dedicated word processor appliances (sometimes with a basic spreadsheet and flat-file database, to duplicate the functionality of integrated software) were still a common thing into the early 1990s, because people were afraid of computers, and these devices were often cheaper.In this case, this thing was $299 in 1985, apparently, and you got a portable typewriter and plotter... when a portable computer with any kind of full-page portable printer could've easily been 10x that.And, of course, this could be your full-page portable plotter/printer for a computer, too, given the Centronics interface.
(DIR) Post #9fXqyGfg2kkDqONfBg by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-06T03:07:38.239140Z
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tfw you hear a periodic clicking noise after starting up an old laptop, and you think the HDD is on its way out... but it's running perfectly normally, including when you hear the click....and then you hear it a bit better and realize it's just the USB floppy drive on your modern machine, because Win10 likes to randomly hammer floppies for some reason.
(DIR) Post #9fXs0EjiJAV8NOlt68 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-06T03:19:12.418223Z
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out of context printer driver
(DIR) Post #9fZ1iGZpv3NpZYBI4O by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-06T16:42:42.992810Z
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@jk I'm older than Windows 2.10 but younger than 2.03
(DIR) Post #9fbuHsyaPycYS8b9xw by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T02:03:38.415631Z
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...I just found an 8088 datasheet last updated in 2017.(Renesas is still making 80C88s: https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/space-harsh-environment/harsh-environment/microprocessors-peripherals/device/80C88.html#documents )
(DIR) Post #9fcnOAdb12PkjKvYuG by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T12:21:03.937908Z
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@techfury ...they really did need more vertical screen if they were going to have a UI like that, for things like terminal programs...
(DIR) Post #9fd5CMa8a1NjTTpT96 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T15:40:31.120537Z
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@jk real talk, I kinda want to see a N64 maxed out on RAM (I think 16 MiB can be done by doubling-up the motherboard RAM and doubling up a memory pak?) and an extremely cut-down *nix from the time ported to it, using the 64DD for mass storage, with an IRIX-like UI, as an alternate-history home SGI workstation
(DIR) Post #9fdYuffVsHzQ5Dp79U by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T21:13:34.244298Z
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@jk @revenant You could also use a 6501 in there if you wanted.(But the only difference between a 6501 and a 6502, IIRC, is the pinout and clock circuitry - 6501 is socket-compatible with the 6800, but not instruction set compatible. The 6502 was the lawsuit-friendly version of the 6501, specifically to make Motorola happy.)
(DIR) Post #9fdZ9oLnsRA3M0p8IS by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T21:16:18.689842Z
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@techfury @plausocks ...I wonder whose cells they used, because damnTheir own, maybe? Then again, the cells they make in their joint venture with Nissan are utter garbage...
(DIR) Post #9fdcRXm6XmJp1JGzPk by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T21:53:06.576143Z
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@revenant AFAIK, the 6800 monitor for the Apple-1 was eventually written... THIS DECADE...
(DIR) Post #9fddMlDjE4yrE8TdQ0 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-08T22:03:28.027216Z
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@revenant and AFAIK the only times it's been documented to be running are on clones or emulators (I think it was developed on a modified emulator, even).
(DIR) Post #9ffY1NsP76frGhz0tc by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-09T20:12:59.418866Z
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An idea that's been bouncing around my head for a while: a so-called "Mini-XTX" motherboard. I'm not offering to make this, but it's something that I think would be neat to see.This would be a Mini-ITX form-factor motherboard, with the following features:* Switchable CPU speed between 4.77 and 9.55 MHz following the DTK standard for software switching* EMS 4.0 memory mapper, support for 1 MiB, 4 MiB, and 16 MiB 30-pin SIMMs (all memory under EMS control, and a default mapping of the first 640 kiB)* Super I/O chip providing 2x serial, parallel, FDC, RTC, soft ATX power, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard (the SMSC/Microchip FDC37B787 is I think the winner here), although with the caveat that this may require a custom BIOS to handle the keyboard controller properly?* XT-IDE-compatible PATA controller* Two 8-bit ISA slots, one in line with the I/O shield for an extremely low profile graphics card* A 7905 to provide -5 VDC to the cards that need it (in practice this means sound cards), so you can use any modern ATX power supply, you don't need something from the 1990s/early 2000s.Then, the graphics card options, all at 38 mm tall to stay under the I/O shield height and fit into the very tightest of cases:* CGA clone with the target of 100% compatibility with 8088 MPH, and with both TTL (DE9S) and composite (RCA socket) connections. If the design needs a CPLD to work (I suspect it will), maybe also support disabling CGA snow, and support the PCjr/Tandy modes? (If you did that, you'd also want sound support I think, and that actually complicates things.)* MDA clone, with color MDA support (which was a thing!). No need to provide parallel, just the video.* Something VGA, I guess?
(DIR) Post #9ffc5Rm2xrTOKbCbhI by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-09T20:58:33.891364Z
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One annoyance I thought of with this design: Many Mini-ITX cases use a PCI riser, to flip the PCI card 90 degrees (either above or beside the motherboard).With an ISA slot, however, the slot is .562" further down the motherboard, which is significant enough that an existing case using a beside-motherboard riser will need creative riser design to work properly. (There's a few ways to do it - a metal or plastic frame to support a card on a ribbon cable riser could work, brute forcing it with three PCBs (to push the connector .562" back), or maybe you could cut a hole in the PCB and run the card through the back side of the connector?)If the riser folds the card over the motherboard, though, you just need to space the slot out .562". Not a problem AFAIK.
(DIR) Post #9ffcJR7ICmckLYoJgO by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-09T21:01:05.254953Z
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Personally, I think the ribbon cable riser might make sense anyway - design the bracket properly, and you could make it adjustable for different cases (as Mini-ITX cases often shipped with their own riser when they need one, so you'd need to adjust an ISA riser for each case design anyway). Basically you'd have a stub of PCB in the motherboard that the bracket would mount to with height adjustability, and you could just flip the ribbon cable's mounting into the bracket to get the connector facing the right way.
(DIR) Post #9fg02mAz3Dgddf7qrY by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-10T01:26:59.716292Z
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@seatsafetyswitch That's burning up a lot of board area, though, and I'm not sure how I would feel about embedding a SB on a *XT*, where it wasn't all that useful anyway. (Even an Adlib isn't *THAT* useful...)And, I mean, there's a whole ISA slot free to shove a Snark Barker into, and my ultra-low-profile graphics slot idea would be available for VGA instead of CGA/MDA, if you want to play the VGA+SB Turbo XT game.
(DIR) Post #9fg1pNUZiKfRE61otE by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-10T01:46:59.536452Z
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‘Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu’: https://www.nytimes.com/video/insider/100000004687429/farewell-etaoin-shrdlu.html
(DIR) Post #9fi8sNEeF2HGVKbTO4 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-11T02:15:23.101961Z
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@vertigo @gdkar @djsundog @thegibson @loke Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was the first version to lack Standard Mode, for what it's worth.(WfWG 3.10 still had it, Windows 3.11 (without integrated network file sharing support) had it, but WfWG 3.11 shipped with some 32-bit-only components, so they removed Standard Mode.)
(DIR) Post #9fxKn76aKTcrsezw48 by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-18T10:09:32.820034Z
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If you get a follow from @bhtooefr, that's me - this instance isn't so reliable lately, so I'm making sure everyone's followed from at least one reliable instance.Some of you may have been followed from my account on that instance and unfollowed in the past as part of an attempt to clean up my timeline...
(DIR) Post #9fxLCMejeHq3Lm0o4W by bhtooefr@cathoderay.tube
2019-02-18T10:14:07.329917Z
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Also, if you follow me here and not there, you may want to follow me there. (My political takes and such are on display there, though, so, completely fair if you don't want to.)