I'm just starting to clean up a NeXT system that a friend has had in
storage for decades...
I assume the thing has a battery somewhere - I just hope it isn't Ni-Cad!
This is the original cube, monitor, keyboard (& mouse?), printer,
assorted cables, and a SCSI secondary hard drive box. So far the manuals
haven't shown up, but that is all online AFAICT.
My plan is to give them all a good cleaning, then open up and inspect
capacitors, look for batteries and any other perishable items, and then
do diode checks prior to considering powering up. The remembered
background story was a nearby lightning strike may have taken out the
(1200 baud?) external modem, so will be paying extra attention to the
serial ports! Sniff test may still be useful even after 20ish years.
Any suggestions on what else to watch for on this setup prior to first
power? I also will be using the Dim-Bulb setup once it seems safe to
turn on. Anyone seen a common problem in power supplies for these
components for example?
Planned destination is auction...
Thanks!
John :-#)#
This survey is in its final days. You are invited to add your anonymous
input by clicking here https://bit.ly/vcfm2026pre-en
Ce sondage entre dans ses derniers jours. Vous êtes invité à ajouter vos
commentaires anonymes en cliquant ici https://bit.ly/vcfm2026pre-fr
DATE: January 25 & 26, 2026.
LOCATION: Montréal, QC, Canada
Jeff Brace
VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President
Howdy,
The subject of Aleph Null's real identity appeared on HN...
:: Who was Aleph Null?
Posted on 2 September 2013 by Brian Hayes
http://bit-player.org/2013/who-was-aleph-null
::
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43195308
Intriguing. He must have been known by somebody, back in the day.
--
Regards,
Tomasz Rola
--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... **
** **
** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_rola@bigfoot.com **
Anybody need a dot matrix impact printer? Do you need to print multi-
part forms with carbon paper or NCR paper?
I have a Star Micronics SB-10 dot matrix impact printer. It has a
parallel port interface.
I have the cable, manual, and a spare ribbon.
None of my computers have a parallel port so I haven't tried to use it.
I put it on EBay, but mostly I don't want to throw it in the E-waste
bin. It's yours for pickup or shipping, but I won't complain if you
offer me something for it.
30lb. 20x20x10 inch box.
Thousands of new documents have been added to the DG legacy preservation
web site [www.NovasAreForever.org], including new sections for the Nova,
SuperNova, Nova 2, Nova 3, microNova, MPT, Eclipse S/130, Eclipse S/140,
Eclipse S/230, Eclipse C/330, Eclipse S/280, and Desktop Generation
computers.(!) Separate areas also now exist for DG disks, tapes and
other peripherals.
New archives for 3rd-party, DG-compatible hardware vendors have been
started with this release, including those for Keronix, DCC, Bytronix
and ROLM.
This update reflects Wild Hare's continuing dedication [obsession?] to
preserve Data General's significant part of computer history, and to
help museums, universities and "restorationists" preserve DG systems
worldwide.
Bruce Ray
www.NovasAreForever.org
--
Bruce Ray, President
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
bkr(a)WildHareComputers.com
...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org
I have two SPST time delay 12-volt relays packaged like vacuum tubes
with octal bases, Amperite models 12N010 (ten seconds) and 12C5 (five
seconds).
They're in their original boxes.
I have no idea what devices used them.
It seems a shame to throw them in a recycle bin.
Does anybody want them?
Van Snyder
I have been trying to diagnose a video fault on my Rainbow 100A for some
time now. The monitor shows an error message and some of the attributes
displayed are wrong and displayed incorrectly on every line down the screen.
However, the attributes being presented to the DC012 appear to be correct
and the DC012 is good (I have replaced it with a spare and with a known good
one, all have the same behaviour), and yet the display is wrong.
I have posted this on VCF, but would like to reach a wider audience as I am
really at a loss now as to what the problem could be.
Picture of the problem here:
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/video-ram-fault-on-a-rainbow-100a.
1250713/post-1418966
Description of what I have found here:
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/video-ram-fault-on-a-rainbow-100a.
1250713/post-1433618
Thanks
Rob
As those of us with a few years will know, Tony Hoare (and Jill's)
implementation of Algol 60 on the Elliott 803 was a highly significant
event in the history of computer languages. It was the first practical
commercial Algol compiler, launched block structures languages, and
played a part in Elliott selling nearly 300 803B computers at a time
when 300 computers was a big number.
Obviously the US preferred Fortran and COBOL for commercial use, and
there were other Algol compilers in some shape or other knocking about
in universities. But I'd say this implementation put block structured
programming into the mainstream. (And it was the first high level
language I used, but that's beside the point).
Now some kid on Wikipedia thinks it's not notable and is trying to
delete it because he can't find much on it doing a Google search.
Wikipedia may be sinking under activists and egos, but I think we need
to put this misapprehension straight. Unfortunately we may be arguing
with an idiot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_ALGOL
If course, if anyone thinks it wasn't significant, that's an opinion
too, but I'd like to hear why.
Thanks, Frank.
On Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:00:07 -0600
Paul Koning <paulkoning(a)comcast.net> wrote:
> > What is the problem with ISRs running in a user stack? The ISR
> > runs, exits, the stack is cut back, and net effect on the user's
> > stack is zero.
>
> A stack access fault in user mode kills the process, in kernel mode
> (certainly in an ISR) it kills the whole system. You can't leave the
> integrity of the OS at the mercy of the application having a valid
> stack.
Additionally, the ISR could leave potentially sensitive information in
user memory, depending on exactly how the stack and memory protection
are implemented. Consider an architecture where the stack pointer is a
normal address register (as on the -11, the 68k, etc.) and protection
is on a per-page basis with no bounds checking (i.e. there's no special
address space for the stack, just a particular chunk mapped into normal
user memory.) It'd be trivial for a user program to sit and "scrape"
the stack for stray bits left by passing ISRs - say, waiting to see if
the UART service routine happens to jot down something that looks like
an admin password coming off one of the terminals.
> On19 Feb 2025 18:39:08 -0500, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>
>>>
>>>> One of most ingenious coding tricks to me was the problem of saving and
>>>> restoring all registers without resorting to an exchange jump. We used
>>>> that one as a test for applicants.
>>>
>>> Argh... I know I've seen this trick, but it's been too many years. How
>>> about a hint?
>>
>> It uses the RJ instruction to record register content, bit-by-bit.
>> Think about it--RJ is about the only instruction that can modify memory
>> without fiddling with the A6 and A7 registers.
>>
>
> Of course... I vaguely recalled there was a bit-by-bit save, but didn't
> think of the RJ. Thanks.
A full example of this code is in the DEBUG package of CAL SNOBOL <https://mcjones.org/CAL_SNOBOL/>, starting at label SAVEREG:
Original version: https://mcjones.org/CAL_SNOBOL/UArizona/SNOBOL.MAC.html
Revised version: https://mcjones.org/CAL_SNOBOL/UTexas/DEBUG.html
