Techno-Archeology: TimeLine Product Documentation and Upkeep

That's weird...the JPEG and PDF files I've uploaded in the past are MUCH larger than 64KB...most be something with DOC files....?
 
The same limit goes for the TXT files, which is why mine are still MIA. The Lynx files are exactly 64K converted to raw binary, but uploading those as TXT files is wrongheaded and IMHO likely to break when the forum software changes.

For now I've put them here:
http://it-he.org/temp/LYNX500.BIN - Lynx MK1 v5.00
http://it-he.org/temp/LYNXL410.BIN - Lynx MK1 v4.10

...but it would be nice to have somewhere else to put them. I didn't see an obvious way to contribute to the synth ROM place. I also have dumps of the Otari MX80 and its remotes, the MSR-24, the ATS-500 and the A807, but those seem a little beyond the purview of this thread.
 
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I don't think you need to "convert" them...just rename them... xxxx.BIN to xxxx.TXT ...and then make a note to everyone that once they download them, to rename them back to xxx.BIN.

Now...is there some scanning of files on this BBS to where a renamed file would still be "discovered" not to be a TXT file...?
I doubt it...and I've been doing the rename thing for years.
That said...many sites now employ email security that DOES actually scan the files, so it's hard for instance to attach an .EXE by renaming it to .TXT if the email system is blocking .EXE attachments. Maybe they scan/block here too...or maybe they just look at the file extension...???

Hey...try one rename...if it doesn't work, you'll know right away. :D

With regard to converting files so that they will attach (and sometimes you can't attach ANY effing thing!)? if Your own/have access to a printer/scanner the software can usually convert almost anything to anything. My Brother 7055 is set to default to .pdf.

Another trick but only really of use for single or very few pages is Screen Print>Paint>Paste> Save as.

(sorry if there are grannies here and I am talking the egg thing!)

Dave.
 
[MENTION=31942]jpmorris[/MENTION] -I just downloaded the .BIN's for posterity, and thank you for the first EPROM submissions!
I'm sorry if I gave anyone false hope with my little test file, somehow I thought that the IT guys were looking to screen out the (usually larger) .DOC files due to Macro viruses and the like, and unfortunately I didn't immediately test it out with a larger file size. Again I apologize for the oversight. We'll figure out a better solution eventually, but merely passing the files around through a method such as you found is better for ensuring their longevity than not doing it at all. Thanks again!

[MENTION=89697]ecc83[/MENTION] - Thanks for stopping by, and those methods you suggested are useful for preserving/converting certain image files and text files. I only wish we could guarantee their utility for converting .TXT files to PDF and back again for use as a means of storing raw binary files that we are attempting to archive as backups to our older EPROMs from our hardware units. Hmm....I'll go looking now to see if that's possible even.
 
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CB120 and CB140.

I've updated the links to clarify what I've uploaded.

What's the 120 remote for..?
Is that the Autolocator?

When you get a chance...add their BIN files.

I'm going to sometime soon, pick up EPROM reader/write/eraser kit, and pull the BIN data off my MX80.
I have the latest version data, at least I'm 99% sure it is...because all my EPROMs where redone by my Otari tech when he was rebuilding the 140 remote I have...and he also sent me new EPROMs for the 124 remote and the audio card...since everything had to be on the same page.

AFA where to store all the files...if we doesn't work to just attach them here...I can put them all on my commercially hosted website server. They would be safe there for as long as maintain my site...which is indefinitely at this point, or until I drop dead and my hosting subscription expires, and they spend a couple of months sending notices....and then finally shut it down. :D
 
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[MENTION=94267]miroslav[/MENTION] - That's a very generous offer to the group, and thanks for offering to help us have an alternative spot for the EPROM BIN files.
[MENTION=31942]jpmorris[/MENTION] -
uploading those as TXT files is wrongheaded and IMHO likely to break when the forum software changes.
I'm not sure in what way the idea would be wrongheaded- the filename extension used or the likelihood that newer forum software would test the files for legitimacy?
 
I'll leave it to you to corral all the data/info into whatever organized fashion you like...since you're gung-ho right now...:D
...and if you need me to drop it on my website hosting server...I can create a folder there, no problem.

It would probably be more "permanently archived" if all the data/info could be dropped here, since I assume this BBS will/should last well into the future, in one form or another...but if there's some kind of upload issues for some things here, I can host just those items, or the whole enchilada.

There's not really all that much in total size...and the amount of download traffic would be minimal, since we've established that this stuff is becoming a very small niche area of interest to new folks coming into the recording world...so it's not going cause any bandwidth issues no matter where it is.

TBH...since I already have most of the Timeline schematics and manuals...adding BIN/TXT/DOC files will not be a big deal...I just want to set it up and provide a link if I end up hosting it for posterity, rather than just keeping copies for my own piece of mind. :)
 
[I'm not sure in what way the idea would be wrongheaded- the filename extension used or the likelihood that newer forum software would test the files for legitimacy?

Text files are often treated differently than binary files. Windows formats them in its own different way, for example: http://projectfuturecomic.com/epsilonlist.txt
...It should render as a list of lines. If you open it in Notepad, it will become a single stream of text because unlike every other text editor on the planet, Notepad has to have Carriage Return/Linefeed characters instead of just Linefeed to to tell it that the line has ended.

Right now the forum is most likely running on Linux, Apache and PHP - if for some reason it becomes Windows, Apache and PHP, or in particular, IIS on Windows, it's quite likely that it will start replacing every instance of byte 10 with 10,13 so that notepad and other windows programs can open it properly. It may end the file at the first CTRL-Z character. Or the first 0 byte. It might decide that some of the binary codes are actually UTF-8 and try to convert them to some other codepage. Either way, you'll end up with something other than what was originally uploaded and it won't work as an EPROM anymore.

TL;DR - right now it's working by accident.
 
[MENTION=94267]miroslav[/MENTION] - Thanks again for the generous offer. I guess we'll just have to work out some of the details - probably not so difficult, or "space-hogging" with the mostly text documents or smaller PDF's, although I can imagine that some of the possible photo contributions might get larger. Also, there's the issue of how to efficiently backup the "living documents" procedurally, but these things can be overcome. Again, thanks.

[MENTION=31942]jpmorris[/MENTION] - Those are excellent points that you're making, and probably correct- in that the forum's underlying tech foundation or future developments is beyond our control, and our concerns about uncorruptable data archiving are possibly beyond their IT department's interest.

In my "coding naivete" I was clearly making some assumptions about data storage and retrieval, that as you have eloquently pointed out are indeed fraught with peril. My recent experiments with online file format conversions and uploading larger EPROM BIN files under filename extension aliases have all failed, and for many of the reasons you stated earlier.

Even though I would have expected some of my attempts to succeed, none have. The extension aliases (instead of TXT, trying with PDF and JPG, for example) were in fact tested by the server, and failed to upload. Naive offline conversions using OpenOffice as a converter created enough "hash" in the file as to make me suspicious as to the cleanliness of the throughput, and my online converter attempts have thus far failed to complete (trying to convert BIN files to JPG, PNG, etc. using Convertio, for example would immediately fail with "unexpected errors" regardless of their site's claims).

I might try one or two more experiments before I give up on the file conversion method, but hopes are growing dim for their success, I'm afraid; and as you've brilliantly pointed out, a temporary solution is likely to not be historically robust.:(
 
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I find this thread fascinating but understand practically none of it! However it causes me to think? I understand that (for 'forensic' purposes if nothing else) there exists at least one working example of every machine ever made?

Things like Betamax, VHS and Philips 2000 VCRs are obvious but there must be hundreds of devices that used now obsolete operating codes? Mind you, I doubt the likes of GCHQ would let US have a play!

Dave.
 
OK, so I'm not convinced this is exactly the right place for them thread-wise, but:

http://it-he.org/temp/ATS500.BIN - ATS500 v1.00
http://it-he.org/temp/MX80CPU.BIN - PG082K Sep.20.88
http://it-he.org/temp/MX80CARD.BIN - PG083 Nov.25.86
http://it-he.org/temp/CB120-A.BIN
http://it-he.org/temp/CB120-B.BIN - PG071K Nov.04.88
http://it-he.org/temp/CB140.BIN - PG133B Oct.29.88
http://it-he.org/temp/MSR24.BIN


EDIT: I was a little worried that my S-record to bin conversion was untested. However, I ran it on my microWave MK1 ROMs, and ended up with the exact same binaries as the ones downloaded from that site, so I guess all is well.
 
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OK...but I still don't know what it is...I mean, I understand you are referring to a sync box, but is there more to the name/brand...?...just not familiar with it.
I googled it and came up with some strange hits. :D
 
OK...but I still don't know what it is...I mean, I understand you are referring to a sync box, but is there more to the name/brand...?...just not familiar with it.
I googled it and came up with some strange hits. :D

It's made by TASCAM.
 
I just found that info in your own thread from a few years back... :)

Anyone used the Tascam ATS-500?

How rare are they...compared to the Timeline stuff?
I use to follow a lot of the TASCAM line when I first got my M3500 console...but as the years passed, I kinda lost touch with their product line...I mean, once TASCAM started to kinda fade away on the tape/analog side of things.
 
I just found that info in your own thread from a few years back... :)
How rare are they...compared to the Timeline stuff?
I use to follow a lot of the TASCAM line when I first got my M3500 console...but as the years passed, I kinda lost touch with their product line...I mean, once TASCAM started to kinda fade away on the tape/analog side of things.

Ten years ago, the ATS-500 was far more common and much cheaper than the Lynx. Right now, I can't see any ATS boxes on ebay, but a lot of Lynxes.

The ATS-500 uses the TASCAM serial protocol. There is an IF500 interface expander which allows it to use the parallel protocols of other decks. For the purposes of getting a TSR-8 or MSR-series deck to slave to an incoming timecode or another similar deck, it works pretty much out-of-the-box with a comparatively simple cable setup.
By contrast, I never managed to get the Lynxes to do anything useful at all, sync-wise. That's not really fair because the decks were a later generation and there was a lot of guesswork involved trying to build a cable to drive them as if they were TASCAM 48s, but that's where I was at the time.
 
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