Weekend finds _at_ Orlando hamfest

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Mon Feb 12 13:02:47 2001

   What a weekend!!!

    day -1: Thursday. Helped a friend dig out and load stuff to take to
the hamfest. Found and bought two Osborne computers. One turns out to be
an early Osborne 1, NOT an OCC-1. It has a display but appears to have a
bad capacitor in the power supply judging from the ripple. It got all the
original manuals and software with it. The other machine is an OCC-1. I
had previously found the software and manuals for this one so now it's
intact again. This one works great!

    day 0: Friday. Hamfest starts but opened earlier than on previous
years so I get there after they open. Eveything is picked over but I still
manage to find a new in box Survey ROM for the HP-41. Also included is a 41
battery holder, one manual and some other bits and pieces. Later I find a
new in box HP 71B. Also in the box was a brand new HP-71 ROM from Pratt and
Whitney that is used to determine where to place weights to balance an H-60
helicopter engine. Also got the instructions for the ROM. The odd thing
about this 71 is that the box has a label that says that it is a "Computer,
Fire Control". That's the name that the US Army calls the HP-71s that are
used as a backup system for computing artillery fire. I have the manuals
for that system along with a bunch of the ROMs and several (badly) used
HP-71s. This is the first time that I've seen one of these 71s NIB. This
one is in PERFECT condition.

   Day 1: Saturday. LOADS of good finds this day! Frist, a dealer friend
of mine says that he has a surprise for me and to come back after he
unloads. I return later and find that he has two HP-41 CV calculators for
me (Yippie!). Both are in the cases and have all the accessories. They're
also the later half-nut models. One even has a survey ROM in it. Go to
another stand and find that the guy has a VAN LOAD of books from the estate
of a farily well known author in electronis, J.A. (Sam) Wilson. I spent
SEVERAL hours going through all the books. I eneded up with TWEVLE large
boxs of physics, mathematics, computer and engineering books. Too many
GREAT books to describe some some of the highlights include Mick and
Brick's book on Bit-Slice CPUs, loads of OLD DEC manuals, loads of '70s
data books, a Heathkit ET-3400 with ALL the manuals, Intel manuals for the
MDS systems and lots more! Check another stand and found a manual for a
Tektronix 4596 Graphics tablet for use with the Tektronix 4051 computer.
Then I really find a a goodie! A Zenith Z-100 computer in great condition
and with the built in hard drive for $10! Later I find a brand new in the
box HP Thinkjet printer with the HP-IL inteface. I also picked up a
"Intext" model XK-300 Microprocessor Trainer made by Elenco Electronics
Inc. Does anyone know anything about these? It looks similar to the
Heathkit ET-3400 but has a Motorola 6802 CPU.

  Day 2: Sunday. Things are slow today but I still manage to score a nice
RS-232 analyzer for $1. Also found another boxfull of books! One in the
great finds is a copy of "The Complete Motorola MicroComputer Data Library"
printed by Motorola in 1978. This is a THICK book and it describes ALL of
their EXOR-bus cards and systems along with all the other EXOR-TERM systems
and other items including all of the cards that they made for the DEC
systems. It also has data sheets for all of their digital ICs. It also
lists all the software that they sell and all their Developement systems!
This a great reference manual! I also find two HP Electro-Optics catalogs
from the early '70s. One lists and describes the displays used in the HP
Spice series of calculators. I've never found that before. The second one
describes in detail the display system used in the HP 35 and other classic
HP calculators. Both of these are going to be very handy! The only other
sgnificant find is a Remote Relay Actuator and sensor control box that's
operated by RS-232.

   Well that's the highlights. Now I have to go clean out the car. AND my
truck. AND my buddy's van! They're all full!


    Joe
Received on Mon Feb 12 2001 - 13:02:47 GMT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:33:44 BST