I am playing around with VMS 5.4 on a simulated microvax 3100 and want to
get decnet running.
The install media I have found is for decnet 4.0 end-node but it doesn't
install. Vmsinstal complains
about symbols not being defined and I am guessing I have the wrong version
for VMS 5.4.
Does anyone know of a decnet version that will work on VMS 5.4? I can't
seem to find one.
Thanks,
- Peter
I want to prep the outer shell of my new tandy model 102 for paint and
wish to remove the beautiful metal badgee from its recessed holder. I
considered using a heat gun but fear it may effect the plastic casing around
the badge.
Last thing I want to do is damage the badge. Any clues?
Daniel
sysop | Air & Wave BBS
finger | calcmandan(a)bbs.erb.pw
Greetings Restorers,
I think a number of us have wanted to restore software that's only
available as a scanned listing from a line printer. The original
printout probably wasn't the best typographic quality, and scanning
doesn't improve it.
As a first pass, OCR with tools like Adobe Acrobat can easily produce
a rough draft of the content in text form, but it takes almost as much
work to correct the many "typos" as it does to simply re-type the listing.
It seems like, with all this high-tech AI processing around, it
should be possible to take advantage of the limited character set, fixed
fonts, and restricted grammar that one might find in a listing to
resolve more of the ambiguities in character recognition.
Does anyone have an approach that's more efficient than generic OCR
and a long process of correcting typos on every line of code or comment?
Thanks
/guy
I had one of these back in 1978ish. I remember that the coding was ASCII, but “inverted” i.e. mark and space were reversed. Not sure if yours is the same.
Good luck.
Sent from my iPad
> On Nov 30, 2025, at 1:00 PM, cctalk-request(a)classiccmp.org wrote:
>
> Subject: [cctalk] Friden Flexowriter models
Ok, started playing with the SIMH vax8600 simulator and OpenVMS 7.3
Hobbyist.
I know they discontinued the hobbyist license program years ago, but does
one actually need a license to run it? Or would an older version like 5.x
or something be better? The OpenVMS community license is only for Alpha,
Itanium and some x86_64 architectures so I'm sure that wouldn't work in a
simulated VAX?
- Peter
I have recently acquired a Flexowriter. It looks very much like the one shown on this page - https://moca.ncl.ac.uk/iomedia/pt4.htm
The identifying points are
- blue color keys
- tape punch and reader (both appear to be 8 bits)
- white and red lamps on the front panel beneath the Friden logo
The serial number plate shows F_V as the model and S P E C as the coding.
Is anyone familiar with what this model is? What does the coding refer to?
Peter
(sending again from a different email address as I don't think my first
email got through, apologies if this is a duplicate)
I have a VT100 that I was working on a while back and then set aside for a
bit. I have started to look at it again. I have noticed that the Video Shift
Register, a 74S299, gets very hot, I can smell the heat and the chip gets
almost too hot to touch, reaching almost 40 celsius. I have a working VT102
for comparison and the same chip there does not get so hot (it reaches about
30 celsius). I have already tried replacing the chip, but the new one gets
equally hot.
I looked at the signals the chip is receiving and the one that stands out as
different is the CLK input (pin 12). It looks like this:
https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/vt100-74s299-clk-s
ignal.png. On the VT102 it looks like this:
https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/vt102-74s299-clk-s
ignal.png. It is much spikier on the VT100 and I was told at one point that
this could be the cause of the hot running for the chip. Is that a
reasonable assumption?
Assuming the spikes are the cause of the hot running. I am trying to see why
there is a difference. I have noticed that on the VT102 there is a 68R
resistor between the DC011 which produces the signal and the 74S299. You can
see this as R86 in the VT101 printset
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt101/MP-01066-00C_VT101_Family_Field
_Maintenance_Print_Set_Apr82.pdf (p47 of the PDF). The VT100 printset dated
Feb 82
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/MP00633_VT100_Schematic_Feb82.p
df shows an inductor L8 being used (PDF p17), but my VT100 does not have
this and so must be described by the March 80 printset
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/MP00633_VT100_Mar80.pdf (PDF
p17).
Could the absence of L8 explain the spikier DOT CLK signal and the hotter
74S299?
Incidentally, I suspect that the flyback transformer on my VT100 has failed.
If anyone has a flyback transformer going spare, especially in the UK, then
I would love to hear from you.
Thanks
Rob
I just acquired a TRS-80 model 102, my first of that model.
Everything is great other than three keys. The 2 keys works intermittently,
q, and [ don't work. Having checked the schematic, the keys have no
commonality on the circuit.
Before I pull the cap off the switch, I know that the rubber dome inside has
material on the inner part that meets with the silver contacts to complete
the circuit. I'm told this material will wear out or lose conductivity.
I reflowed the solder joints on the pcb and this didn't help. Other people
have simply replaced the rubber dome from another dead 102's keyboard. But,
I'd rather attempt applying new material inside that dome.
I'm hoping there is an inexpensive and mainstream solution I can buy at home
depot or something.
Any tips?
Daniel
sysop | Air & Wave BBS
finger | calcmandan(a)bbs.erb.pw
