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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 30th Jul 2021, 1:21 pm   #21
duncanlowe
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

The start of computing in our school was a teleprinter terminal, with an acoustic coupler. It was used to dial a computer at the OU. Only a couple of the matchs staff were allowed near it. Then the school was loaned a PET for a few weeks at the end of term. It was loaned by the local Polytechnic who's term finished a few weeks earlier. This happened a couple of years. It sparked enough of an interest that the school did a deal with the local Tandy, to get a TRS80. This was all before the 380z became 'common' in schools, followed swiftly by BBCs. So having various computer stuff in some schools is not unknown.
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Old 30th Jul 2021, 1:32 pm   #22
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Yes our school had a dialup modem teletype onto the county mainframe which I left on one weekend... They also had an RML380Z with a floppy drive. As you say only the M1 Math class were granted access although one of the maths and one of the RE teachers brought in their ZX80 and TRS80 machines respectively for the after school computer club...
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Old 30th Jul 2021, 2:22 pm   #23
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Quote:
Originally Posted by duncanlowe View Post
The start of computing in our school was a teleprinter terminal, with an acoustic coupler.
That rings a bell. The first job I had after Uni was working for Fairchild Semi's little design office in Bristol back in 1978. We had a teleprinter terminal - not something like a Hazeltine, as we needed hard copy - and an acoustic coupler which was used to dial into an IBM 360 mainframe in Sunnyvale CA. We'd type in our Spice netlists and submit them them come back to print out the results a while later, or sometimes on the spot if the machine wasn't too busy. The acoustic coupler was 300 baud so at the best of times it was a bit slow. At lunchtimes, there was the chance to play 'Original Adventure' (what a use of an IBM 360!) or play 'Star Trek' on the Fairchild Sentry tester we used to test and debug the chips we had designed.
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Old 30th Jul 2021, 2:32 pm   #24
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Gents, we are again some way adrift of the specific subject of AngelaD's terminal. Can I suggest a new thread for the more general terminal discussions, or perhaps that the general stuff be split away to a new suitably titled thread a few posts after the OP?
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Old 31st Jul 2021, 6:35 pm   #25
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Here is picture of Hazeltine1421
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Old 31st Jul 2021, 7:09 pm   #26
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Sorry Angela, but the image didn't make it into your post. Would you like to try again, as per post #3 of this thread? You can always tell if you have successfully attached a file to your post if you look at the preview. If it's not there, it isn't attached.

Then, once you do see it attached in the preview don't forget the final step, hit 'Submit Reply'.
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Old 31st Jul 2021, 7:53 pm   #27
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Also when you select the file you need to press Upload - I keep forgetting as well..
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Old 1st Aug 2021, 7:40 pm   #28
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Don't forget that even if the school didn't have a minicomputer it may have been used to contact a computer with a modem over telephone or leased line. Its also possible it may have been used with an early microcomputer.

My school in the late 70s has a dial-up link to the local college Eclipse minicomputer.
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Old 1st Aug 2021, 10:28 pm   #29
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I'm trying to add pic and I can see it in preview but none of you can see it. If someone wants me to email pic direct yo them so they can try to upload it please let me know.
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 4:49 am   #30
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

I said that back in post #5. It was, indeed quite common for schools to use a remote computer before microcomputers became available. Either by a terminal (like this one) and a modem, or by the school having a keypunch for punched cards and the card deck being sent by post to the company with the computer.
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 9:05 am   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelaD View Post
I'm trying to add pic and I can see it in preview but none of you can see it. If someone wants me to email pic direct yo them so they can try to upload it please let me know.
Can see it now!
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 9:12 am   #32
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

I think I can make out the crack in the screen in that photo.

It looks as though it was a CRT with a laminated faceplate, 2 layers of glass bonded together, and tht the outer layer has broken. This means the CRT may not have 'gone to air' and that it could well still work.

On the other hand the reason for the laminated faceplate is to protect the user in the event of the CRT imploding. How well it will do that if the outer layer is cracked I don't know. There are several, I think dangerous, sets of instuction and videos on the web describing how to remove this outer layer. I wouldn't try it!
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 11:03 am   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyDuell View Post
I said that back in post #5. It was, indeed quite common for schools to use a remote computer before microcomputers became available. Either by a terminal (like this one) and a modem, or by the school having a keypunch for punched cards and the card deck being sent by post to the company with the computer.
Yeah, I reread the thread and saw that after I posted it and tried to delete my comment but the forum didn't delete it for some reason At school I used to write Cobol and CGL programs and punch them on cards and we'd post them to the local college and get the printouts back a week or so later... Kids of today etc etc
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 11:20 am   #34
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Based on the image (which we can now see, thank you Angela) does anyone have any salient advice for Angela on what to do with it?

Even if the screen is compromised it might still contain some salvageable chips and other hardware useful to a locally based retro enthusiast. There could even be someone, somewhere who has one with a bad board and a good screen.

With the screen in that condition, I think it might be unwise to try to send it anywhere by post or courier.
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 11:20 am   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelaD View Post
I'm trying to add pic and I can see it in preview but none of you can see it. If someone wants me to email pic direct yo them so they can try to upload it please let me know.
I used one of those in my first job back in 1985 programming BASIC plus II on a PDP 11/75 on RSTS/E operating system!
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 11:35 am   #36
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

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Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Based on the image (which we can now see, thank you Angela) does anyone have any salient advice for Angela on what to do with it?

Even if the screen is compromised it might still contain some salvageable chips and other hardware useful to a locally based retro enthusiast. There could even be someone, somewhere who has one with a bad board and a good screen.

With the screen in that condition, I think it might be unwise to try to send it anywhere by post or courier.
I agree with the Screen cracked it will only get worse with a courier. It will certainly be salvageable and it may be possible to source a replacement tube for someone dedicated enough or use the rest to repair a physically damaged machine with good tube. I wonder if either computer museum Center for Computing History in Cambridge or Bletchley would have a volunteer local enough to collect - they are the most likely to have enough donations to get others with different physical issues.

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 10:27 pm   #37
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Thank you to everyone for their opinions and advice. So, do we have an agreement on its age? I'm just curious about these things. Our school was a Technical College pre-1980's so that is probably why we have it. Looks like I need to contact museums that have displays of old computers, and are near enough for me to get to.
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Old 3rd Aug 2021, 1:43 pm   #38
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

I'm going to say it must have been introduced on the threshold of the 1980s, judging by this advert from 1981.

https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/ID...-Page-0197.pdf

You say you don't have any knowledge of computers yourself, Angela, so are you just looking for a way to move it on? You could try offering it for sale, honestly described, via the well worn channels available but I think it would have to be collect-only due to the parlous condition of the screen. Just let it find its own price and it will go to someone who finds it interesting enough to buy in spite of the obvious damage.

If you were in Cambridge or Milton Keynes (Bletchley) where there are major computer museums, we would suggest you take it there or get it collected by them. Forum user TonyDuell (who has posted in this thread) is a serious collector, repairer, restorer and preserver of such items and of all the people I 'know' the most likely to get that unit working again, but he is not able to travel from his base south of London to your location in Portsmouth.

There is a more computer specific online forum which deals only with vintage computers, here:-

https://www.vcfed.org/forum/forum

You should be able to find out more about it there. Although the forum is USA based there are a lot of UK users on that forum, and there is a 'marketplace' section where you could offer it for sale - again though, I think it would have to be limited to a local sale, collect-only because that screen might not survive a rough journey.
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Old 3rd Aug 2021, 1:54 pm   #39
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

There is also a museum of computing in Swindon - also not particularly close to you, but they might be interested enough to collect, if contacted.

https://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/

Your own local museum in Portsmouth apparently held a retro computing / retro gaming exhibition called 'Game Over' a while ago - although that exhibition is over the fact that it was held there at all may indicate that there is someone on the museum staff with an interest in retro technology, so maybe give them a call first?
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Old 26th Oct 2021, 10:40 am   #40
AngelaD
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Default Re: Hazeltine 1421

Hi. Decision finally made by school to donate this. If you live near Portsmouth and can collect please email me via the forums.
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