Dean Yergens
  • Home
    • Calendar
    • Resume
    • Publications
  • Software
    • Synthesis >
      • Current Version
      • Synthesis Tutorials
    • RMail
    • Meta Data Repository
    • Patient-X
    • WebReports
    • HealthSim Calendar Gadget
    • MT4Health
    • Amazon ISBN 2 BibTex
    • ForestRanger
    • Alberta Sepsis Network
    • R Code
  • Global Health
    • Software
    • Philippines
    • Malawi
    • Zambia
    • Kenya
    • World Health Organization
    • Verbal Autopsy
    • Space Medicine
  • Computer Science
    • Robotics
    • Data Management
    • GPU Parallel Processing
    • Machine Learning
    • Visualization
    • Operating Systems
    • Programming Languages
    • Software Engineering
    • Simulations
    • Computer Configurations
    • Single Board Computers
    • IEEE RSS Feed
    • Glossary
    • Commercial Software Blog
  • Health Sciences
    • AI Walkthrough
    • Canadian Health System Books
    • Microsimulation
    • Graph Databases (Neo4J)
    • Administrative Data
    • CCHS Overview
    • Literature Reviews >
      • Newspaper Literature Reviews
      • Open Access
      • Statistics Utilization
      • Topic Modeling
      • Utilizing R for Literature Reviews
    • Statistics >
      • RMedicine (RClub) >
        • Blog
        • Forums
    • Health Informatics >
      • DataMergeR
      • Dashboards
      • Academic Software Development
      • Critical Care Systems
      • Patient Flow >
        • Patient Flow Simulations
        • Systems
      • HL7
    • Online Courses
    • Public Health Documentaries
    • Summer Institutes
    • WHO Internships
    • Conferences
  • Collection
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Looking for
    • Analog Computers
    • Old Monitor Projects
    • Computer Books and Software
    • 3D Models
    • FrostByte
    • New Devices Vintage Computers
    • Floppy Music
    • History of Workstations
  • Other
    • Future Projects
    • Home Automation
    • Animatronics
    • Raspberry Pi
    • Deaner.AI
    • CANMAR
    • EpiComics
    • The Art of Deaner
    • LED Cube 8x8x8
    • Ambient Devices
    • EasyButton
    • African Art
    • Movie Posters
    • Wildlife Photography
    • Coursera
    • Neat Companies
  • Blog

Vinyl Vintage Computer Covers

9/15/2016

0 Comments

 
One of the things that is interesting about the home vintage computers is how there were these vinyl dust covers made for them.  This is something that has been lost over time.  

Vinyl dust covers in the collection:
  • Atari 400
  • Atari 800
  • Atari 410 (tape drive)
  • Atari 810 (disk drive)
  • Texas Instrument (TI-99)
  • Amiga (one of the rare - non 8-bit dust covers)
  • IBM Monitor

I seem to remember the Atari dust covers being brown, while the Commodore line of computers (Vic 20, C64, Amiga) had white covers.  

I wonder if these were actually made by Atari or Commodore or whether they were all manufactured by a third party. 

It would be interesting to get the Vic 20, C64 and Apple II dust covers into the collection.

I do have one plastic cover for a Compaq PS2 keyboard -- we would use these in the ICU in the hospital to prevent against infection control.
0 Comments

Vintage Computer Maintenance Update

9/13/2016

1 Comment

 

Amiga 500
  • Booted up Amiga 500 that came with the two Amiga 590 hard drives.
Amiga 500
  • Tried to boot up a Amiga 500 that I acquired via eBay (no power supply).
  • Did not boot up -- but the caps key light was powered up.  
  • Next step: is to reset the chips.
Amiga 590 
  • I have two Amiga 590 hard drives. Both the drives came with the wrong power supplies (the male/female was wrong).  I received another shipment that came with two Commodore power supplies that appear for the 1541 drives that seemed to work - but ran hot. 
  • One hard drive was able to boot up. The other failed.
  • Next Step: Get a A590 diskette and reformat the drive that works. 
Amiga 2500
  • Displayed a missing disk imgae on the screen when booted up.
  • Next Step: Get A2500 booted and then insert the Mac and PC emulation cards that I have. 
Amiga 3000
  • Did power up - not image on video.
Amiga 3000 Tower
  • Did power up - not image on video.
  • Missing key to unlock case.
DEC PS2 Keyboard
  • "d" key not functioning
NeXT Cube 
  • Missing Computer to Monitor cable.
  • Missing NeXT mouse.
UniSys/Burroughs ICON
  • Missing monitor cable (DE-9). Same size as VGA but with less pins.
  • Two hard drives - both unconnected.
HP 712/60
  • Power-up with NeXTStep installed (the other HP 712/60 that I received also ran NeXTStep)
  • Recovered Root password by:  Source: http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2650
  • Black hardware: 
    • Reboot the system. 
    • Immdeiately after the "Testing System" message is replaced with "Loading from disk", hold down the right command key and press the tilde (~) on the numeric keypad. You are now at the ROM monitor. 
      Boot the machine into single user mode. Most people boot off the hard disk, and should type the following at the ROM monitor prompt: 
      • bsd -s
    • Once the system has started and dumps you at a root prompt, you need to make sure NetInfo and other services get started. Do this by typing: 
      • sh /etc/rc &
    • Set the root password using: 
      • passwd root
    • Now, reboot the system and you can use the new password. 
  • Intel hardware: 
    • Reboot the system. 
    • Boot the machine into single user mode by typing the following at the bootloader prompt: 
      • -s
    • Once the system has started and dumps you at a root prompt, you need to make sure NetInfo and other services get started. Do this by typing: 
      • sh /etc/rc &
    • Set the root password using: 
      • passwd root
    • Reboot the system and you can use the new password. 
IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation
  • Request from another collector to find the user manuals and any software I had with the system.  
  • Located two manuals - Technical Reference and Guide to Operations.
  • Located one diskette: IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation Customer - Level Diagnostic Diskette
  • Will make an archive of the disk and scan in the manuals as a PDF.


1 Comment

IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation Documentation

9/12/2016

0 Comments

 
I was able to locate some documentation for the IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation.

Two manuals:
Guide to Operations - IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation (1989) SA12-7007-00
Technical Reference - IBM 7690 Clinical Workstation (1989) SA12-7009-00

There was also one 3.5" diskette labeled "IBM7670 Clinical Workstation Customer - Level Diagnostic Diskette (Version 1.10). The next step is to make an archive the diskette. 

0 Comments

Last of the Summer Items

9/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Last of the summer items received.

Computers:
Atari Mega ST2 (no keyboard/mouse)
HP 712/60 (these workstations are perfect for running NeXTStep on)
Commodore 128D (no keyboard) + some documentation and floppy disk

Other:
Lots of old memory
TPUG (Toronto Pet Users Group) Newsletter - Spring 1996 (notice how its about "Amiga - Back to the Future")

Again, thanks to the estate of David Fletcher Evans from Ontario, Canada and 
Rob Warren and John Aycock for arranging the logistics/transport while I was away in Samoa consulting.
0 Comments

UniSys/Burroughs ICON - "Bionic Beaver"

9/6/2016

8 Comments

 
Over the summer I received a UniSys/Burroughs ICON computer.  This included the Burroughs ICON CPU unit, UniSys Monitor, and UniSys keyboard/mouse. The CPU unit contains a harddrive and also a 5.14" floppy drive. There was also an extra hard drive.

From: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys_ICON
​
The ICON was a computer built specifically for use in schools, to fill a standard created by the Ontario Ministry of Education. It was based on the Intel 80186 CPU and ran an early version of the QNX Unix-like operating system. The system was packaged as an all-in-one machine similar to the Commodore PET, and included a trackball for mouse-like control. Over time a number of GUI-like systems appeared for the platform, based on the system's NAPLPS-based graphics system.

The ICON was widely used, mostly in high schools in the mid to late 1980s, but disappeared after that time with the widespread introduction of PCs and Apple Macintoshes. They were also known as the CEMCorp ICON, Burroughs ICON, and finally Unisys ICON when Burroughs and Sperry Corporation merged to form Unisys in 1986. The machine was also nicknamed the "bionic beaver".

It looks like there were several types of ICON computers as this one is not the "all in one" unit described in the Wikipedia article. It is interesting that the CPU is labeled as "Burroughs" while the Monitor and Keyboard are UniSys.

The CPU is very heavy and the keyboard/mouse unit is kinda cool -- very big and robust. 

Documentation Binders for the ICON:
  • ICON Series Toolkit Operations Guide Vol. 1
  • ICON Series Toolkit Operations Guide Vol. 2
  • ICON Series MS-DOS Reference Manual 1215969
  • ICON Series QDOS Operations and Reference Manual 1215944/1216157
  • ICON Series C Compiler Programming Reference Manual
  • ICON Series Software Installation and Implementation Guide (with Disks)
  • ICON Series (Disks)

Software Disks for the ICON:
  • ICON Series Netcard FileServer Boot Diskette - 4.01.00 Jan 1990
  • ICON Series Upgrade Release Ver 4.10.01
  • ICON Series Upgrade Release Ver 4.10.01 Netcard F/S Boot
  • ICON Series Upgrade Release Ver 4.10.01 (Disks 1 to 5)
  • ICON Series Upgrade Release Ver 4.10.01 Help Diskette
  • ICON Series C Compiler - Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • ICON Series Logo - Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • ICON Series Edite Online Help - Ver 4.00.00 May 1989
  • ISSW 4.10.01 Home Brew File Server Boot (copy) (University of Waterloo Computer Store Diskette)
  • ISSW 4.10.01 File Server Boot (copy) (University of Waterloo Computer Store Diskette)
  • Fileserver Boot Diskette - Ver 4.01.00 Jan 1990
  • Netcard Fileserver Boot Diskette - Ver 4.10.01 Sept 17, 1991
  • Configuration Diskette  - Ver 4.10.01 Sept 17, 1991
  • System SW Diskette   - Ver 4.10.01 Sept 17, 1991 (Disks 1 to 5)
  • Help Diskette  - Ver 4.10.01 Sept 17, 1991
  • System SW Upgrade Diskette  - Ver 4.10.05 Nov 1, 1991
  • C Compiler  - Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • Logo Diskette  - Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • Watcom Basic Interpreter - Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • Watcom Pascal Interpreter- Ver 3.00.00 Dec 1987
  • Watcom GKS Graphics and Tutorial Examples- Ver 3.00.00 May 1989
  • QDOS - Ver 4.01.02 May 1990
  • QDOS Support (English) - Ver 4.01.02 May 1990
  • MS-DOS Boot Diskette - Ver 3.2 May 1989
  • MS-DOS GW-Basic Interpreter - Ver 3.2 May 1989

​Again, thanks to the estate of David Fletcher Evans from Ontario, Canada and Rob Warren and John Aycock for arranging the logistics/transport while I was away in Samoa consulting.
8 Comments

NeXT Cube Acquistation

9/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Over the summer, I received a NeXT Cube, 19" monitor (heavy) and a keyboard (no mouse).

As you can see there is ALOT of documentation. It looks like there were two NeXTStep Academic Bundles - only one has the case for it.  

I am extremely grateful to find a copy of WordPerfect and Lotus Improv in the lot - as it seems that finding software developed for the NeXT is kinda rare.

Also in the collection were 2 256mb Optical Drives with 4 disk caddies. I don't know if these work. Also, I don't have any of the actual optical disks that were used with these.

There was also a NeXT speaker - which I don't have in the collection.

Again, thanks to the estate of David Fletcher Evans from Ontario, Canada and Rob Warren and John Aycock for arranging the logistics/transport while I was away in Samoa consulting.
0 Comments

Amiga Acquistation

9/6/2016

1 Comment

 
I received the following over the summer.  The Amiga 500 was a Kijiji find and the rest of the computers came from a collector in Ontario, Canada.
  • Amiga 500 (no mouse)
  • Amiga 2500 (no keyboard/mouse)
  • Amiga 3000 Desktop (no keyboard/mouse)
  • Amiga 3000 Tower with Video Toaster (no keyboard/mouse/key)
  • Lots of documentation and user manuals. 

I have a PC and a MAC emulation card that I will insert into the Amiga 2500. 

As you can see they are missing keyboards and mice - so I will be on the hunt for these.  Luckily, I have one Amiga 2000 keyboard that I came across.

Again, thanks to the estate of David Fletcher Evans from Ontario, Canada and Rob Warren and John Aycock for arranging the logistics/transport while I was away in Samoa consulting.
1 Comment

    Dean Yergens

    Computer Science, Medical Informatics, Health Services Research, Epidemiology.

    Archives

    September 2019
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Epidemiology
    Hacking
    Linux
    Software
    Vintage Computing

    RSS Feed