On the plus side the front panel seems functional (except for one LED). I can at least examine and deposit data.
Well, the old Gifford computer is doing something. I have blinking lights, but she is not loading anything from the drives. I will have to check what is on the EPROMS. In the notes I have it only talks about loading from tape. Also nothing shows up on the terminal screen. On the plus side the front panel seems functional (except for one LED). I can at least examine and deposit data.
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Just about ready to fire this baby (Gifford S-100) up. Any bets as to whether or not she starts first time?
Stay tuned tomorrow to see what happens... Pirate Coin Chest: One year (I think it was in 1979), I got this cool pirate chest with 50 odd world coins. The chest had a pirate head on one side and a Jolly Roger on the other. It was a pretty cool case to keep them in. Eventually it broke and I later put these in proper coin holders or traded them for other coins. It had coins from India, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, and many countries I had never heard of at the time. I do believe it had a few British half pennies as well as other neat ones as well. Pulsar - The Ultimate Man: My brother got Steve Austin, but I got Pulsar! Quite a strange action figure. His lungs pumped air, and blood flowed through his veins. His head even opened up to expose his brain. Teeter Totter Watch: I was a small kid when my parents got me this for Christmas. It was quite cool because you could see the gears and it had this neat looking teeter totter as a pendulum inside. Unfortunately, despite the ad saying otherwise, this young lad found a way to overwind the darn thing. Consequently, it didn't last past Christmas day. I distinctly remember that big red gear in the middle and the teeter-totter pendulum, so I am reasonably sure this is the watch I must have had. It was cool to watch (excuse the pun)! Good thing my parents only paid $2.69 for it . The ad is from the 1973 Simpson-Sears Wishbook. If that is when I got it, I would have been 6 at the time. Magajector:
I had one of these for Christmas. You could project pretty much anything (positive) that would fit in the slide holder, baseball cards etc., so long as you could secure them down. These seem to have been made for decades. They were still available in the 70s, but I gather that they were originally made in the 50s. They used a 60 watt bulb which got quite hot. There were a set of card that came with it. They were an odd size. Not the same as index cards or collector cards. I am not sure what standard they were, but by the 1970s they were an oddity. It is too bad they did not make an insert for projecting baseball cards at least. My Commodore PC10-III was having trouble booting from the floppy drives. However, it exhibited the following behaviours:
After lots of troubleshooting, it turned out to be a very subtle thing indeed. The use of a 74LS04 chip instead of a 74S04 chip (near the RAM). Once I replaced that back to what was supposed to be used, it booted correctly.
Got some cool UV enhanced banknotes from the UK. These are from the lake district. When you put them under a UV lamp additional detail appears, such as constellations at night.
Spare transmission for Veronica. Which I will work on, once I finish putting together the spare engine. Which I will work on once I finish my S-100 computer restoration. Which I will work on..., well, you get the picture
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AuthorCharles Baetsen holds a Bachelor and a Master's degree in Engineering Physics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Archives
February 2024
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