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[stepleton]

Backup[12] Spring.zip brings us back to Lisa disks.

On Backup1 Spring.dc42, we have contents also found in APPS/APLW/aplw-dm68k.text.unix.txt and elsewhere in the CHM Lisa source. Several mentions of a Hungarian Dictionary (can you even type ő on a Lisa?).

Interesting string: Lotus: the word-processor (not window mgr) part of LisaWriteL&

This is an interesting one --- strings suggest maybe a document or a diagram describing how LisaWrite works?

More spellchecker source code.

Some contents also found in APPS/APLW/aplw-unitldialog.text.unix.txt. TIL that LisaWrite was code-named Lotus; the term keeps coming up.

On Backup2 Spring.dc42, more LisaWrite (nee Lotus) source code by the looks of it. The files appear like they may be earlier versions of files in the CHM release: lots of the source files have dated lists of changes at the top, and many dates for the files on this disk don't go later than January 1984. The CHM files have plenty of dates for Feb 1984 and a few March and April too.

[stepleton]

That'll be it from me for now --- it's bedtime here. There's probably more undiscovered stuff: the strings command is about the most basic data exploration tool there is. To sum up:

Backup[123456] 5_19_83.zip --- Apple /// backup. Has backup of work from an Apple employee who worked in technical documentation. Contains some personal correspondence and maybe also schoolwork. A copy of the Lisa Hardware Manual dated April '83 is present.

Backup[12] Spring.zip --- Lisa formatted. Some LisaWrite source and potentially documents describing theory of operation.

Backup.Volume[12].zip --- Apple /// backup. Financial software and Apple /// Pascal.

Level II Video Board 4_22_83.dc42 --- Lisa formatted. Troubleshooting instructions for the Lisa video board. This is the disk I'm most excited about!

Lisa Manual Diagrams.dc42 --- Lisa formatted. Did not examine closely but text suggests that if there are still diagrams, some of them may be for technical/service manuals.

LisaTerminal, Crossley 5__.dc42 --- Lisa formatted. Appears to have a copy of LisaTerminal at some version or another.

LisaTest.zip --- Did not examine.

Random.dc42 --- Lisa formatted. Some source for the LisaWrite spell checker.

[ried]

Fantastic sleuthing, Tom! I did message Pete Burnight and he told me that some of his Apple /// demos appear to be in the archive, which you have validated.

Looking forward to seeing what else the community finds.

[sigma7]

That'll be it from me for now --- it's bedtime here. There's probably more undiscovered stuff: the strings command is about the most basic data exploration tool there is. To sum up:

Backup[123456] 5_19_83.zip --- Apple /// backup. Has backup of work from an Apple employee who worked in technical documentation. Contains some personal correspondence and maybe also schoolwork. A copy of the Lisa Hardware Manual dated April '83 is present.

I've removed "Backup[123456] 5_19_83.zip" pending more information regarding whether it should remain private due to personal data. Please let us know if you can determine anything about that.

There were two more disks in the set that were actually labelled "personal" that are not included in the uploads.

[stepleton]

(Noting for the record: I sent a DM with some details.)

[stepleton]

I was intrigued by Level II Video Board 4_22_83.dc42 and so "burned" a Twiggy on my Lisa 1 (running Office System 1.1) and had a look. On the desktop, the Twiggy is named "Ross L" and contains:

• A LisaWrite file called "L2Video"
• A folder called VideoDraw with contents
• A(nother) LisaWrite file called "L2Video"
• A LisaList file called "VideoBoardListByComponent"
• A LisaList file called "VideoBoardListByFailure"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12HorAmp"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12VideoAmp"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12VertDefl"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12Failures"
• A LisaDraw file called "VideoDiagram"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12Test Components"
• A LisaDraw file called "VideoBoardBlockDiag"
• A LisaDraw file called "V12Power"
• A LisaCalc file called "L2VideoCharts"

I'm printing these documents now and will scan the ones that print successfully. I hope I have enough paper --- 8.5"x11" fanfold is probably hard to find in the UK!

[patrick]

I'm printing these documents now and will scan the ones that print successfully. I hope I have enough paper --- 8.5"x11" fanfold is probably hard to find in the UK!

Can you convert them into some 400k compatible format? It would be nice to have some more "real" sample documents on the Lisa.

[stepleton]

Maybe! I'm trying to think about how to accomplish this. Office System 2 will run on a Lisa 1 if I recall correctly; maybe I can make an Office System 2 image that I can share between the Lisa 1 and a simulated Lisa 2.

[stepleton]

Although I did do a lot of printing to a real ImageWriter, I worked out how to get my laptop to receive the serial data instead, and from there how to convert the raw ImageWriter commands to PDF. The results are in this directory here. L2Video.pdf is the document itself, and all the other documents hold figures and tables that would have been pasted into it for printing. (Such is life before 7/7 I suppose!)

If you'd like access to the raw ImageWriter data and the conversion process that yielded the PDFs, then Level_II_Video_Board_4-22-83.tar.bz2 in the directory linked above is for you.

I think this should be a pretty helpful document for anyone trying to fix their video boards. The components most likely to fail diagram is a pretty interesting one; I think I've seen CR7 replaced on a video board before! But the component that seemed to fail the most in the early 1980s (according to the document) was the 24V voltage regulator U1. I wonder what the most failed component is after 40 years...

[sigma7]

The results are in this directory here. L2Video.pdf is the document itself, and all the other documents hold figures and tables that would have been pasted into it for printing. (Such is life before 7/7 I suppose!)

This is an awesome find and extraction effort, thank you Justin and Tom!

If someone pastes the diagrams into the appropriate places in the text before I get around to it, please post it!

James