More fun with retrocomputing

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Added some retrocomputing stuff to my “collection,” so thought I’d post about it.

We’ll start with the smallest machine and work our way up. I bought a replacement eMate 300 (mine died in a fall, and I literally cannot find where the component came off the motherboard to replace it,) but this one has the RAM/flash upgrade – faster, and has a useful amount of storage.

Next up is an upgrade to my IIGS – a ZipGSX, this one with all of the card upgrades, and running at 10 MHz with 32 kiB cache. I’ve got parts on the way to make that either 12 or 12.5 MHz and 64 kiB cache, though. Having an accelerator makes a world of difference with performance – things happen on the desktop almost instantly, GNO/ME works significantly faster, Spectrum becomes much more practical for telnet use, etc., etc., etc.

Finally, something I’ve been thinking about getting for a while, and has been in the works for a couple months… I posted a request on P370-L asking if anyone would be willing to sell a Personal/370 Adapter/A, which was IBM’s first “mainframe-on-a-card” for PCs. Pretty quickly, I got an e-mail offering a PC Server 500 System/390 8641-MYC, which runs a much more modern version of that card (compatible with ESA/390 software, whereas the Personal/370 is only compatible with 370/XA,) for cost of shipping.

It arrived yesterday, and it looks like I’ve got a project on my hands, bringing it up. Some of the MCA cards came loose in shipping, and need to be reseated. Here’s the specs on what I’ve got, though:

Pentium 90 (all PC Server 500s have this,) 32 MiB of RAM
Dual SCSI RAID controllers (each with two channels)
Dual LANStreamer (not gonna be that useful, I don’t have Token Ring)
Two ethernet cards (that will be useful)
Some XGA card, I think
System/390 processor card
96 MiB S/390 RAM card (the most for this configuration)
14 hard drives totalling 159.3 GB

Yeah, this will be a fun one to set up. I plan on running VM on it, and maybe playing with the other IBM mainframe OSes as well.

KansasFest 2010: ACTION RETROCOMPUTING CONFERENCE

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So, I guess it’d be a good idea to blog about my first time at KansasFest, an annual Apple II convention held at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO.

(For the benefit of any readers of this blog that don’t know… I have absolutely no problem with the Apple that made the Apple II, and as I grew up with an Apple //c and a couple Apple II clones, I kinda have to be a fan of that Apple. 😉 The Apple that I have a problem with is Apple, Inc.)

Due to the length of this post, I’ll use the intro feature, so everything else is after the break. Continue reading “KansasFest 2010: ACTION RETROCOMPUTING CONFERENCE”

Why Apple is evil: Lying to their customers about the future of their products

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Today, we’ll have a more historical look at Apple’s evil actions.

In 1977, Apple released the Apple ][, the refinement of Steve Wozniak’s engineering into a more complete computer. This machine and its wide family of descendants were extremely popular for many uses, and were used in many schools across the US.

Prior to the 1980s, computers in the hobbyist market, what Apple knew, tended to last for a couple years on the market, and then were pushed out by the latest and greatest. Backwards compatibility wasn’t understood. So, Apple figured that by 1980, they would be dead in the water if they stuck with the Apple ][, hence a project to create both a short-term and a long-term successor, aimed at the business market.

These machines were the Apple /// and Lisa, both colossal failures in the marketplace, for different reasons. However, Apple decided to actively neglect the Apple ][ while developing the Apple /// – despite the Apple ][ Plus racking up massive profits for them, and funding all of the projects meant to kill it.

That’s not what’s evil, that’s just them not knowing better.

The Mac was eventually the ultimate successor to the Apple II line, although it had to push the wildly popular Apple II out of the way first. So, again, Apple started neglecting the Apple II, not giving it upgrades or promotion that it deserved.

Here’s where it got evil. Apple, knowing they were trying to kill the Apple II, started releasing the Apple II Guide. This was a series of guides listing all sorts of information about the Apple II, with statements that Apple had no plans to cancel the Apple II, to reassure customers. Problem is, they did that in the 1992 edition, right before cancelling all Apple II projects (and knowing they were going to do it.)

Way to abandon your loyal customers, Apple.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t around for this, but I’ve read a lot about it. If I’ve gotten some of my facts wrong, please comment, and I’ll correct it.

No specific source for today.

What Apple used to stand for, and what they stand for today

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What they used to stand for: Clever hacks, exploration, creativity, making stuff, freedom, designed to benefit the hacker and the user

What they stand for today: Consumerism, restriction, walled gardens, control, designed to benefit the content producer

Best symbolism of the former? The Apple II. The lid isn’t even screwed down, just pops right off. BASIC, and in some versions (depending on available space,) an assembler and disassembler in ROM. Manuals with schematics and source code.

Best symbolism of the latter? The iPad. Sealed tight, Apple doesn’t even swap the battery, they replace the entire unit. Programming is only if you pay to play, and even then, your code has to be approved by Apple. Allegedly, DRM baked straight into the CPU, so Apple can in theory control every single piece of code that you run on it.

Which would you prefer?

More retrocomputing stuff!

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So, I’ve been messing around with my IIGS some more lately.

First, I got it running as a web server, using a serial connection to my server. Great. But, the fastest connection I could get that was stable was 38400 baud. Eww.

I might’ve blogged a while back about the problems the motherboard had, that it couldn’t accept any expansion cards. Long story short, I had gotten an a2RetroSystems Uther ethernet card for it, and tried it… and nothing. It wouldn’t connect. Tried everything, even tried a diagnostic software disk image that a2RetroSystems sent me, and it wouldn’t init the card.

After doing a bunch of diagnostics on the machine… I figured it out. The damned motherboard was fucked. 😡

Anyway, yesterday, a new IIGS (that was actually a year older) arrived. It had a dead power supply, but I had a good one in my old IIGS… and this machine works perfectly. 😀

Interestingly, the video signal is clearer and stronger on this one, too. Not sure what that’s about, but I’m sure as hell not complaining.

So, the IIGS is now online, with an ethernet card. Still is using floppies as the only storage, though.

It is accessible at http://bhtooefr.ath.cx:6502/index.htm in its current state, however.

But, that’ll eventually be remedied. I’m going to get a Focus IDE controller from 16 Sector (and I’ve already got a CF to 44-pin IDE adapter on the way, and I’ll be getting a 1 GiB CF card soon,) and some form of 4 MiB RAM card.

Then, I think, except for an accelerator, this system will be complete. 🙂 (And I may never get an accelerator, because they go for stupid money used…)

My crazy opinion on computers and education

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I should probably state my qualifications before I begin this post… I work as the computer technician for a K-12 private school. I don’t work directly with the students, but I DO work with the teachers in implementing their educational needs on our computers. Also, it wasn’t that long ago that I was a student myself.

I personally feel that modern computers are the wrong approach for educating our students. Continue reading “My crazy opinion on computers and education”

I am such a nerd.

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That’s my cell phone running the Apple ][ version of Lemonade Stand.

Yes. My cell phone. Running an Apple ][ app.

How?

AppleIIGo.

Pretty easy to use… download, extract, put disk images in the Disks directory, and (on Windows or Mac) run the relevant script, or enter the following command on Linux (taken RIGHT from the Windows CMD file, just with proper slashes instead of backslashes, and cp instead of copy ;)):

java -jar Tools/AppleIIGoPacker.jar
cp AppleIIGo/bin/AppleIIGo.jad AppleIIGo/AppleIIGo.jad

That cp operation isn’t necessary if you use Sprint – and if you do use Sprint, upload it to your phone using Rumkin’s Phone Uploader. (Upload the AppleIIGo.jar (not the jad) file from the AppleIIGo directory.)

Enjoy!