September 2022 - cctalk - classiccmp.org

pdp-11/45 and pdp-11/34 Available - Free! (Vancouver, BC)

by Kevin McQuiggin (SFU)

Hi All: I’ve been a collector of old DEC systems for about 30 years. I haven’t been active on the list for the last decade or so due to work, but am “surfacing” now as my wife and I are moving and I need to find a good home for two of my systems and their peripherals. I can follow up with photos et cetera if necessary, but the subject line really says it all: a functional 11/45 in a 6’ standard DEC rack, and an 11/34 in a shorter DEC rack. Both systems are functional. The 11/45 has an RK05. The 11/34 has a TS03. I also have a TU80 9-track tape drive (short rack), and dual RL02 drives in another short rack that go with the systems. These would come with a couple dozen tapes, and about 10 RL02 packs. I have a few RK05 packs as well. I would like these systems to go to someone who understands them and will use them. As members on this list will know, they exemplify computing in the 1970s through the 1980s, and it would be nice to keep them running for educational and historical purposes. The systems and peripherals are free, but they must be picked up. I cannot ship, nor do I have time to separate components. If I cannot find a home for these systems then they will, unfortunately, be headed to the metal recycler. I have tried museum donation but bureaucracy gets in the way and decisions take far too long. Hence I am offering the systems here on the list. The deadline for pickup is October 15th. This is a hard deadline as we must vacate our house. I would take the machines with me if I could! Kevin Sent from my iPad

2 years, 6 months

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Looking for Fred N van Kempen ... (pdp11, GUTS)

by Graham Toal

20 years ago I loaned Fred van Kempen a pdp11 disk pack (RK11?) to try recovering for me. We think it may have the Dutch "GUTS" operating system (Groningen University Timesharing System - https://gtoal.com/history.dcs.ed.ac.uk/archive/scans/guts/*.pdf ) and sources on it. My Dad carefully hand-carried it to the Netherlands from Scotland by boat and bicycle!, avoiding any magnetic scanning on the way. I never heard back from Fred and every now and then (some years apart) I try to contact him but all the mail addresses I've tried go unreplied or bounce. Does anyone here know him and have a reliable way to contact him? He might be in the USA now and the only indication I have that he's still alive is a github update in Jan of this year (and happily a lack of hits when looking for an obituary!). I'm assuming he never extracted the disk contents because if he had I'm sure he would have contacted me. If the disk has not degraded too much over the last 20 years since I last saw it, I'ld still like to recover it and so I'ld like to get it back from Fred and give it to whoever else might be able to read it. Thanks, Graham

2 years, 6 months

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Data Systems Designs floppy interface cross-compatibility?

by Ethan Dicks

Greetings, all, While getting ready for VCF Midwest etc, I have been spending a lot of hobby time in the past year digging out various DEC minicomputer items and testing/repairing them. To that end, I've been staring at a DSD480 on top of a PDP-8 rack. It's one of the ones with the DSD 26-pin interface. My question is that since there are several different devices with that connector, are any of them compatible with each other? Specifically, here are the DSD interfaces with a 26-pin connector: 802130 DSD210 PDP-11 Interface (26 pin) (2130) 802131 DSD440 DSD210 PDP-8 Interface (26 pin) (2131) 802132 DSD210 LSI-11 Interface (26 pin) (2132) 804430 DSD440 PDP-11 PDP-11 Interface (26 pin) (4430) 804432 DSD440 LSI-11 LSI-11 Interface (26 pin) (4432) 808830 DSD880 (SA850/SA1004) PDP11 Interface Card (26 pin) (8830) 808832 DSD880 (SA850/SA1004) LSI-11 Interface Card (26 pin) (8832) 808836 DSD880/20/30 (SA850/Q240) LSI-11 Interface Card (26 pin) (8836) It looks like the 2131 board is Omnibus and works with either the DSD440 or DSD210, but on the PDP-11, can the 883x interfaces work with older drives or do they only work with the DSD880 floppy/hard drive box? I remember where/when I got this DSD480, so it seems likely to me that I have a PDP-11/34 with an 4430 board in it. I could probably use an 2131 board just so I have an Omnibus interface. I also have an 808836 board but do _not_ have a DSD880. I've found the prints on bitsavers that cover the DSD440/480 interface so I know what signals are there, but I haven't found the equivalent docs for the DSS880, just user guides. Anyone here know enough about DSD products to shed some light? Thanks, -ethan

2 years, 6 months

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HP 2000 hardware in Salt Lake

by Tim Riker

All, I'm not getting around to working on this hardware. Another potential move coming up. What's the interest level out there for HP 1000/2000 hardware? Computers: * HP-2116A 8kB - the original HP computer. There is only one other that I am aware of in existence. David Collins got theirs up and running. Mine still blows fuses on startup. * http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=95 * HP-2100A - untested * HP-2108 - working last I checked 64kB (I might keep this one) * HP-2112 - working last I checked 64kB Others: * HP-7901A disc drive - untested (2.5mB) * HP-7900A disc drive - untested, with external power supply (5mB) * HP-7900A disc drive - untested, with external power supply * HP-2748B paper tape reader - spins up, does not seem to pass data * CCC tape punch - untested * HP-2761A Optical Mark Reader - punch card reader. loading wheel turned to goo long ago. probably restorable * card slot expansion chassis. I forget the part number. * dual 3 1/2" drive in hpio chassis might someday work with these systems * non-hp 19" rack holding most equipment * lot's of peripheral cards including interfaces for disc drives, punch, tape, card, etc. Photos on Google Photos. My Gallery App is down at the moment. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ry648oCejfmjnuNf9 I'd guess it's about 1500 pounds of hardware. So, pickup in Salt Lake only.

2 years, 6 months

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IBM 5100 emulation

by Steve Lewis

Greetings, we've extracted the Executive ROS of the IBM 5100. The PALM opcodes between the 5100 and 5110 should be identical. So we have used Christian Corti emulator code to run that Executive ROS (under Wintel environment). However, the CRC checks and transition to the Language ROS apparently works a little differently on the IBM 5100 (compared to the 5110). Not the CRC check method itself, but perhaps the addressing used to look for the Common ROS. In the 5110, the Common ROS is more obviously a separate device/card. For the 5100, I'm not exactly sure where the Common ROS is (part of the Executive ROS card, or part of the BASIC ROS card?). I've seen some APL-only 5100's, so I think that system could operate with the BASIC card (but maybe that device slot still would have the Common ROS segments?). Hoping someone is available to maybe give suggestions or tips in how to get this emulator code going with the IBM 5100 ROS's (see EMUV5110 in github; trying to use that to run the IBM 5100 ROS's that are at archive.org). NOTE: The Executive ROS for the IBM 5100 is a 64K binary (I think the last 20K of that is blank, all 0's). In contrast, the Executive ROS for the IBM 5110 is 32K.

2 years, 6 months

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KIM-1 Boards of the Past

by Jonathan Chapman

I finally herded together the extant pictures of the KIM-1s I've had in the past and did a writeup: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2022/09/18/kim1-boards-past TL;DR is that during college I found a KIM-1 in an employer's warehouse. Later, I found a box with five more! These were all Virginia Tech surplus, and one of them is likely the first KIM-1 used for classroom instruction there. I'd intended to sell some of them, since who needs six, right? Unfortunately, I was forced to sell all of them, including the one I'd intended to keep for myself, due to economic/financial situations after graduation. I've never seen anyone post about these particular machines, and I haven't seen them exhibited at VCF East, VCF Midwest, or HOPE. None of the sellers contacted me about them after the sale concluded. Is anyone here the owner of one of these particular KIM-1s? Do you know the owner? Did you use KIM-1s while at Virginia Tech? Please let me know! Thanks, Jonathan

2 years, 6 months

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9-pin mini-DIN serial?

by Cameron Kaiser

Trying to identify two cables I ended up with, one to DE-9 and one to Mac 8-pin mini-DIN. The other end on both is a male 9-pin mini-DIN. These clearly look like serial cables, but to what? A cursory Google didn't come up with anything obvious. They don't fit the Mac GeoPort or Sun SPARC serial ports because the pins are slightly out of place. -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser(a)floodgap.com -- Don't let 'em drive you crazy when it's within walking distance. -----------

2 years, 6 months

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Re: 9-pin mini-DIN serial? (Cameron Kaiser)

by Fred Jan Kraan

On 9/16/22 6:37 PM, Cameron Kaiser <spectre(a)floodgap.com> wrote: > These clearly look like serial cables, but to what? The Epson PX-16 used a 9-pin mini-DIN for the serial port: https://electrickery.nl/comp/px16/px16org.html. Fred Jan

2 years, 6 months

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Test Message

by Kevin McQuiggin

Pardon the test message, I have just re-subscribed to the list but have seen no traffic on it for a couple of days. Kevin McQuiggin

2 years, 6 months

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TVI-921C

by Jonathan Katz

All, I have a TVI-921C at the museum. I power it on and it beeps continuously. One long, solid tone that does not stop until I power it off. How do I start diagnosing this? -- -Jon +44 7792 149029

2 years, 6 months

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