pontus
Veteran Member
Happy birthday (a little late)
- VCF South West - June 14 - 16, Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas
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Happy Birthday mbbrutman!!!
- Thread starter DoctorPepper
- Start date
Happy Birthday, MB.
BTW, guess who ended up getting all the insides (and casetop with CRT & video board) from that Model 4 network workstation from Cassiopeia (just in case you need parts)
Hers was a network station? I read a little bit about those, but the description on TRS-80.com was basically a cut and paste from the catalog. What did they use for the connectivity to the server, and how was the server machine configured?
In retrospect I should have just bought that machine, but something was rubbing me the wrong way that week. I'm glad you rescued the parts.
OT, but it's not exactly a technical thread anyway. ;-0
Check out the design specs on a Cirrus sometime. They are amazing.
In some of the new small planes the engine controls and avionics are fully electronic/digital. The flight controls are still based on a manual linkage. (Unlike in an Airbus, where those are fly by wire.) So in the unlikely event of a complete power loss, the plane is still flyable - it just turns into a glider.
To prevent catastrophic power failures an airplane like a Cirrus will have dual alternators, split bus electrical systems, and large backup batteries than can power the avionics for up to 45 minutes after the alternators stop generating power. There is a lot of attention paid to isolating components from each other so that one failure doesn't cause the entire system to collapse.
Your backup in case all of the displays go dark are the analog guages for airspeed, attitude, and altitude.
Compare this to the 1970s vintage Cessnas and Pipers that I fly. The engines will run with no electrical system active, which is a plus. But they are prone to carb icing, you have to manually adjust the mixture, and there are no onboard diagnostics of any sort. The instruments are all analog mechanical devices which wear out. They don't wear out at the same rate, so we have to train for many modes of failure and learn to interpret instruments that give conflicting readings. And a lot of these instruments are driven by a vacuum pump off the engine, which is a nasty device.
Choose your poison. ;-0
Yzzerdd
Veteran Member
Ohhh, you've flown a Cessna? And a Piper? Ahhh, so cool! I've always had a facination for airplanes, and got to "fly" a Cessna. Some guy my dad knew took myself and my two brothers in the air. I was 12 at the time but put in some serious Flight Simulator hours by then. Once in the air, he allowed me to manuever the plane to face it's new destination and even to fly the plane higher. It was a cool expierience. I've "flown" an UltraLight the same way.
But anyhow, thats going a little off-topic on an already off-topic conversation, lol. Thats cool that the planes still have mechanical linkage. It would be unwise to not have such. But wow, Airbus uses just wires? What if a wire broke or caught fire? If I'm not mistaken, isn't the Airbus that new airplane that was at first contraversal? I'm going to do some research, but assuming what you said is accurate, I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those. Unless it was a museum and not likely to suddenly take flight.
Do you own a plane?
--Jack
But anyhow, thats going a little off-topic on an already off-topic conversation, lol. Thats cool that the planes still have mechanical linkage. It would be unwise to not have such. But wow, Airbus uses just wires? What if a wire broke or caught fire? If I'm not mistaken, isn't the Airbus that new airplane that was at first contraversal? I'm going to do some research, but assuming what you said is accurate, I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those. Unless it was a museum and not likely to suddenly take flight.
Do you own a plane?
--Jack
I regularly fly either a Cessna 172, Cessna 182, Piper Warrior II or Piper Archer II. I'm in a flying club, which makes me a part owner but more of a renter. Using the flight simulator on the PCjr 25 got me interested in flying, but I did not seriously act on it until about 5 years ago.
Check here for some older pictures: http://brutman.com/Flying/Flying.html
I would recommend an introductory flight at a flight school for anybody, even if you only do it once. You can usually get in the air with an instructor for a half hour for well under $75.
As for the big iron, it's all hydraulics and the newer planes are fly-by-wire and hydraulics. That's just the way it has to be - you can't put that kind of weight in the air and control it reliably without it. They are also highly redundant on their systems. You are far morely likely to have a problem with the flight crew than the airplane itself.
Check here for some older pictures: http://brutman.com/Flying/Flying.html
I would recommend an introductory flight at a flight school for anybody, even if you only do it once. You can usually get in the air with an instructor for a half hour for well under $75.
As for the big iron, it's all hydraulics and the newer planes are fly-by-wire and hydraulics. That's just the way it has to be - you can't put that kind of weight in the air and control it reliably without it. They are also highly redundant on their systems. You are far morely likely to have a problem with the flight crew than the airplane itself.
per
Veteran Member
For the event, I would like to type in the Norwegian brithday-song:
Happy birthday, Mbbrutman!
tezza
Veteran Member
Seeing those pictures bought back lots of memories Mike. I learnt to fly when I was 16 (Jack's age) and got my private pilot's license. I trained in an Cessna 150 Aerobat and then went on to Pipers (Cherokee and Warrior). I was a member of an active flying club and they were great times.
However, it was a short hobby. I did this for a few short years while I had a full-time job between high school and University. Once I decided to go to the latter I just didn't have the money any more. I haven't been at the controls since.
A flight simulator is way cheaper, but I do miss those days.
Tez
P.S. 1000 posts!
Mike Chambers
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2006
- Messages
- 2,621
w000000000T!!!!!!
three cheers for mike b!!
three cheers for mike b!!
Mike Chambers
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2006
- Messages
- 2,621
very cool! my grandfather is building an RV6-A. can't wait until he has it done.
Tezza - Hmm, time to delete some of your posts ... ;-0
The Aerobat is supposed to be a fun little airplane, with the emphasis on little. I've managed to squeeze into a C150 once, and with the pilot, full fuel and I we were quite a bit overweight. As you know, they will fly when overweight, but it makes you a test pilot.
Our trainer of choice for the flying club is a C172. Big enough to accomodate normal sized people, and we can keep full tanks all of the time without going over gross weight. In the US some flight schools will use warriors. Some of the more upscale flight schools are using new Diamond aircraft, which are really fuel efficient compared to our older trainers.
Ironically, I can't land in a flight simulator. I try to fly a nice pattern and do everything by the book, but it is really a lot harder to fly and land in a PC class simulator than it is in real life. You don't get the real life cues, and you can't move your head forward or turn it to get a better view like you can in real life.
I checked out in the C182 only recently. The 182 has a constant speed propeller and 230HP, so it can climb like an elevator compared to the smaller airplanes in the club. Unfortunately, it is also nose heavy and heavier in general so it sinks much faster once the power is reduced.
Go spend a few hours with an instructor!
The Aerobat is supposed to be a fun little airplane, with the emphasis on little. I've managed to squeeze into a C150 once, and with the pilot, full fuel and I we were quite a bit overweight. As you know, they will fly when overweight, but it makes you a test pilot.
Our trainer of choice for the flying club is a C172. Big enough to accomodate normal sized people, and we can keep full tanks all of the time without going over gross weight. In the US some flight schools will use warriors. Some of the more upscale flight schools are using new Diamond aircraft, which are really fuel efficient compared to our older trainers.
Ironically, I can't land in a flight simulator. I try to fly a nice pattern and do everything by the book, but it is really a lot harder to fly and land in a PC class simulator than it is in real life. You don't get the real life cues, and you can't move your head forward or turn it to get a better view like you can in real life.
I checked out in the C182 only recently. The 182 has a constant speed propeller and 230HP, so it can climb like an elevator compared to the smaller airplanes in the club. Unfortunately, it is also nose heavy and heavier in general so it sinks much faster once the power is reduced.
Go spend a few hours with an instructor!
tezza
Veteran Member
The Aerobat is supposed to be a fun little airplane, with the emphasis on little. I've managed to squeeze into a C150 once, and with the pilot, full fuel and I we were quite a bit overweight. As you know, they will fly when overweight, but it makes you a test pilot.
Yep. Tiny, underpowered with a vicious stall. But man, is it fun to throw around!.
Now I'm getting all nostalgic....
Tez
dongfeng
Veteran Member
A day late, but Happy Birthday, Mike
Druid6900
Veteran Member
They had two types of networking, IIRC, one was just a basic cassette port system with a dual drive Model 4 as the server, hooked into a distro box and fanned out to the workstations (basic 16/64K no drive Model 4). However, the box was fairly smart in that the server could DL to either a single unit or all units simaultaneously. The WS could merely upload to the server.
The other type, the one I have here, was the other type, an ArcNet (star topography, I believe) setup with, usually, an HD equipped Model 4 and access depended on your access level at the server.
Yes, her and her mother shipped me the whole insides of the unit (and some other goodies) in appreciation for those hundreds of feE-bay auctions I helped them out with a while back. I have a Model 4 that a client in Wisconsin shipped as spare parts to fix a 4D, but the CRT and video board in it got trashed by UPS and it wasn't worth shipping back. I plan to make one good working unit out of the two with a single floppy drive and a built in TM502 HD in the second drive spot. I have a few flat HDCs and I just have to make an interface between the expansion bus and the HDC.
They are also holding a Tandy 3000 and an EGA monitor for me for when I get some room to put it LOL
NathanAllan
Veteran Member
DOH! I missed it, so Happy Belated Birthday!
Cassette port networking, with broadcast capability. Now, that is truly bad.
The ArcNet option sounds more workable; I wasn't aware that the machine had any networking capability.
I've seen mention of the hard drive kits in scans of the old catalogs. Without going too far off topic, what is the controller based on? Is it a relatively standard MFM controller from the day? If so, then whatever driver software exists in the DOS would use the same command registers that PC clones use too. Do you have any suggestions for books I should be hunting down?
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
The setup I had, which I inherited from a 1st grade classroom, used a dual-drive M4 as a server, and had 12 Model Is for workstations, jacked-in thru a Network 4 controller. It was a very workable solution for very little money at the time when RS was unloading the MIs for next to nothing.
The Arcnet was very kewl, as it allowed cross-platform connectability. At the store, we had PCs, TRS-80s, T2Ks, Apple ][s, CP/M boxen, etc all on a single network.
--T
Druid6900
Veteran Member
Most of the kits that I saw used the WD contollers that were in the external hard drives from Tandy (WD1002-05 or the HDO series). There was an internal Buffered Interface Cable that came off the Model III/4 expansion port to the HDC board and you had to use something like LDOS or TRSDOS 6.2? that talked hard drive.
I can't reccomend any books off the top of my head.