Thanks to everyone that responded about archiving documents. I printed
out all the replies and I'm in the process of experimenting.
IT'S ALIVE
About two months ago I picked up a package deal that included an H-8
computer, H-17 dual (hard sector) floppy drive unit, a couple of boxes
of 5 1/4 diskettes (HDOS), a 4K Altair Basic paper tape and manual, and
a H-10 paper tape reader/punch with all the manuals. I had the boxes sent
to work so as soon as I unpacked everything I connected the H-8 up. I used
my Pentium as the terminal and the H-8 fired right up into HDOS.
Anyway...
The H-10 had been nonfunctioning for years because the owner had
arc tested the electronics board with a screwdriver. Last week I took
a break from scanning manuals to take the H-10 apart on the kitchen
table. It turned out to be 2 1N4002 diodes in the 5 volt supply that had
both shorted. It works. Now I just have to order some new paper tape.
It came with 3 rolls but the tape is so old that it breaks when an entire
row of holes are punched and the sprocket keeps ripping the sprocket
holes even with no tension on the tape.
I'll try to get some pictures of the insides to put up. It's beautiful. Nine
large solenoids connect to the punch head by rods about 6-7 inches long.
The read head uses a lamp that looks like an automobile tail lamp.
The cool part is that the H-10 can copy tapes stand-alone (without being
connected to the computer).
Well, I'm excited.
By the way.
Question:
If I made the claim on my ELF page that the 32 byte prom based monitor
on the SUPER ELF was the "smallest manufacturer installed firmware
operating system for a digital microcomputer" would anyone here
disagree? (I'm trying to add more infomation to this page of my museum)
Later
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward_at_pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
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Received on Tue Apr 21 1998 - 16:04:06 BST