Hello,
I'm an employee with the National radio astronomy observatory here in Socorro New Mexico.
As part of our NGVLA upgrades, we are seeking to get rid of old data tapes from the tape reel days of Computing. These contain things such as the boot loaders, OS, specific collection programs and antenna movement programs.
I personally would hate to see these just wind up in the literal dumpster and would like to see them sent out to a museum or an archiving body that can preserve them and keep them safe as a dynamic part of history.
If anyone is interested or knows someone who would be interested in the VLAs data tape library please let me know.
V/R
Danielle Werts
Front end engineer
VLA Socorro New Mexico
2 units working when properly stored a few years ago. 1 unit, parts unit.
Must take all 3.
Tested successfully only with a PC and a VAX.
Located in Frederick, Maryland, USA
I am working on a deal which includes several PDP11/15 or 20s. I will be
looking at them next week and hope to get more details. I will look for
exact model numbers and configuration.At least 2 of them have non DEC
silkscreens on the front panel.
Also a selection of 11/05 and 11/10 including 5 1/4 box, BA11-D, and BA11-K
units.
If you are interested in a box or parts please email me off list.
Thanks, Paul
Well, I've got the Greaseweazle software to run, but I don't know why,
which is hardly encouraging.
Installing various Windows updates, downloading .dlls, and puting the
latter in various directories changed the error messages but it never
actually worked. But downloading the latest Greaseweazle software did,
it ran first time. So no idea what I was doing wrong (maybe 32 bit
.vs. 64 bit Windows applications?)
I can now get the list of commands when I run gw.exe. And can get help
on them using the -h option. I've not tried connecting a drive yet,
but the software can find and talk to the board (the green 'activity'
LED turns on). For example 'gw rpm' which is used to check the drive
speed by timing the index pulses times out and gives a 'no index'
error which seems entrely reasonable.
However I am not sure if I'll be able to use it. There is one very
important thing missing : DOCUMENTATION. The 'wikii' on github is
ridiculously incomplete. There is no user manual or man pages. The
software source in python (a language I've never used) has very few
comments and is not clear at all.
It's not clear to me exactly what all the options are for, and when to use them.
-tony
Hi all,
I tried several ways to get a working SCSI image to be successfully boote
on a ZULU 2024 SCSI Emulator.
1. I do have an Image of an RZ25-E drive containing RSX11M Plus, which is
booting properly. This is a raw dd based disc image of a SCSI drive.
2. I got a disc mage by Jacob, which is booting using simh, but not using
the ZULU on a physical 11/73
3. I created a fresh installation of Ultrix 11 using simh 3.9.x creating a
RD54 image which won't boot on the ZULU an the physical 11/73
4.. I created a fresh installation of Ultrix 11 using simh 3.9.x directly
into a physical SCSI drive partition, created an image via dd which doesn't
want to boot on the ZULU. Simh is booting properly from a dd image of this
partition.
5. Simh is telling me in general using a (virtual) RQDX3 controller. Maybe
the images created won't boot because of being created by the virtual RQDX
3 controller?
How to create a raw disc w/o any controller specific format - simply a
plain Ultrix 11 image as a target for a SCSI drive to be booted either from
the physical, or from a virtual (ZULU).
Best
Andreas
Hi there,
in the last weeks my last two working UltraBooks died. Today I investigated the problem
and obviously in these RDI made notebooks, the NVRAMs not only contain the boot information,
the host ID and the MAC address but also the hardware configuration.
Hence: Once the NVRAM is completeley dead, absent or replaced, the unit will not
start up any more - it gets stuck in the power on test BEFORE the screen shows any
information.
Do anyone out there have got UltraBooks or UltraBooks IIi up and running? Would
highly be interested in a dump of the NVRAM/Timekeeper!!!
The failed first generation UltraBook are (DS1643 NVRAM):
(*) U20-14-9-512P with three (!!) hard drives, no battery port
(*) U20-14-3-128B two hard drives, battery port
And my beloved UltraBook IIi (TimeKeeper DS1553-070)
(*) U40-14-1X-1024C one harddrive, battery port and creator graphics.
Reply here or PM erik(a)baigar.de,
Thanks
''~``
( o o )
+--------------------------.oooO--(_)--Oooo.-------------------------+
| Dr. Erik Baigar Inertial Navigation & |
| Salzstrasse 1 .oooO Vintage Computer |
| D87616 Marktoberdorf ( ) Oooo. Hobbyist / Physicist |
| erik(a)baigar.de +------\ (----( )---------------------------+
| www.baigar.de | \_) ) /
+----------------------+ (_/
So advice to all owners: Backup your NVRAM contents and I'd be more than happy
to get in touch with you!
Not affected seem to be the PrecisionBooks (e.g. H16-12-8-512L2, two hard-
drives and battery port) as they do not contain an NVRAM/TimeKeeper.
Hey Steve I know this is a year later but I have the Nortronic Read Write heads you were looking for. They are currently on eBay. The listing is below. Just do a search and they will come up.
Nortronics Magnetic Head Assembly. NOS Part 9164-0068. Radio Cart Machines.
Hope this helps.
Mark
Sent from my iPhone
Hi,
I have a PDP-11/40 that I've wanted to restore for many years now. I got
it in the standard 21" cabinet but the power supplies were in a cardboard
box. I'm not certain how the power supply bundle mounts in the cab. Also
I'm missing the power supply cables. Do they use currently available Molex
connectors?
Could someone on the list perhaps take a picture or two to show me how the
supplies are supposed to mount in the rack? Also, a shot of the power
cable routing would help.
Thanks,
Marc Howard
