- VCF South West - June 14 - 16, Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas
- VCF West - Aug 2 - 3, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCF Midwest - Sept 7 - 8 2024, Schaumburg, IL
- VCF SoCal - Mid February 2025, Location TBD, Southern CA
- VCF East - April 2025, Infoage Museum, Wall NJ
-
Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
Wanna buy some software?
- Thread starter Erik
- Start date
Computer Collector
Experienced Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2005
- Messages
- 283
Id like to get my hands on some of that software :twisted:
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
shirkahn said:
No, I think it's a Lear-Siegler ADM-3A.
--T
patscc
Veteran Member
Sounds like someone discovered his collection is suffering from disk rot, and wants to get rid of it quickly.
patscc
patscc
Computer Collector
Experienced Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2005
- Messages
- 283
disk rot...............
This is something Ive trained my brain inot believing doesnt exist.
Your making me uncomfortable
This is something Ive trained my brain inot believing doesnt exist.
Your making me uncomfortable
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
Does the term "bit-rot" only apply to EPROMs, or can it be applied to other forms of mass storage as well?
--T
--T
machine
Experienced Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2005
- Messages
- 56
Even old PROM's can suffer from failures. The fusible PROMs if not 'blown' correctly with the exactly correct current would have their fuse links regrow. I think it's a crystalline problem (not real sure). The link would grow and rejoin resulting in the PROM contents being inaccurate. Tandy Model 3 had this problem, about 1 in 1000 M3's had this failure.
Eproms lose their contents too over long periods of time. But if they are in the light and the window not covered they can lose their contents very fast, like over 2 years.
Unfortunately it is the PROMs and EPROMs which contain program content for booting up our machines.
I would recommend for collectors to copy PROM's and EPROM's to other newer devices to ensure that computers will always remain bootable.
It'd be wise to get an old PROM/EPROM copier and keep it and copy all PROM/EPROM's and store them.
The software installed in the PROM's is not available anywhere so it would be impossible to program the PROM again that way. Copies are the only method of saving the contents of old PROMs.
Lots of the Taiwan/Chinese built programmers were really badly designed. The Rolls Royce of programmers was the Data I/O UNISITE. It was very expensive at around $25,000 but it was the best. You can pick up old UNISITEs for a few hundred dollars at auction, or used instrument companies but they are rare.
Eproms lose their contents too over long periods of time. But if they are in the light and the window not covered they can lose their contents very fast, like over 2 years.
Unfortunately it is the PROMs and EPROMs which contain program content for booting up our machines.
I would recommend for collectors to copy PROM's and EPROM's to other newer devices to ensure that computers will always remain bootable.
It'd be wise to get an old PROM/EPROM copier and keep it and copy all PROM/EPROM's and store them.
The software installed in the PROM's is not available anywhere so it would be impossible to program the PROM again that way. Copies are the only method of saving the contents of old PROMs.
Lots of the Taiwan/Chinese built programmers were really badly designed. The Rolls Royce of programmers was the Data I/O UNISITE. It was very expensive at around $25,000 but it was the best. You can pick up old UNISITEs for a few hundred dollars at auction, or used instrument companies but they are rare.